1. Please note that when the author discusses words in the original biblical languages, this series uses the general rather than the scholarly method of transliteration.

1. Lindsey, New World Coming, 21.

2. Sproul, Last Days, 65–66; Robert B. Strimple, “An Amillennial Response to Craig A. Blaising,” 256–76 in Three Views of the Millennium, ed. Bock, 262. John Chrysostom and his “Antiochene” followers more often followed this “literal” sense, as opposed to Gnostics and often the Alexandrians (Carl A. Volz, “The Genius of Chrysostom’s Preaching,” Christian History 44 [1994]: 24–26 [p. 24]); Stephen M. Miller, “Malcontents for Christ,” Christian History 51 [1996]: 32–34 [p. 32]). Some Americans used what they regarded as “literalism” to justify slavery, whereas others responded from biblical principles (“Broken Churches, Broken Nation,” Christian History 33 [1992]: 26–27 [p. 27]).

3. See Beale, Revelation, 50–51, who finds background for this language in Daniel’s use for dream-visions (Dan. 2:28–30, 45 LXX). Prophecy could include mashal (Num. 23:7, 18), a literary type that includes “parables.”

4. Craig L. Nessan, “When Faith Turns Fatal: David Koresh and Tragic Misreadings of Revelation,” Currents in Theology and Mission 22 (June 1995): 191–99.

5. On Hippolytus, see Lewis, Questions, 16. For modern prophecy teachers, see Dwight Wilson, Armageddon Now! The Premillenarian Response to Russia and Israel Since 1917 (Grand Rapids: Baker, 1977).

6. See the observation by John Randall, The Book of Revelation: What Does It Really Say? (Locust Valley, N.Y.: Living Flame, 1976), 11.

7. Kyle, The Last Days, 93.

8. See W. Thiede, “Ein süsses und doch schwerverdauliches Büchlein: Zur Auslegung der Johannes-Offenbarung in christlichen Sondergemeinschaften,” Kerygma und Dogma 41 (1995): 213–42.

9. Timothy P. Weber, “How Evangelicals Became Israel’s Best Friend,” CT (Oct. 5, 1998), 38–49 (p. 43).

10. Many outside this tradition expected at least an end-time conversion of Jewish people before the Second Coming, such as nineteenth-century premillennialist Lord Shaftesbury (John Wolffe, “Dismantling Discrimination,” Christian History 53 [1997]: 37–39 [38]).

11. Weber, “Israel’s Best Friend,” 49.

12. Colin Deal, Christ Returns by 1988–101 Reasons Why (Rutherford College, N.C.: Colin Deal, 1979), 86, as cited in Richard Abanes, American Militias (Downers Grove, Ill.: InterVarsity, 1996), 91.

13. Abanes, American Militias, 91.

14. Ibid., 90.

15. D. L. Moody was the first prominent North American evangelist who was premillennial, but he does not appear to have been committed to dispensational details like pretribulationalism (Stanley N. Gundry, “Questions About Moody’s Theology,” Christian History 25 [1990]: 19), at least not publicly.

16. Kyle, The Last Days, 187, 99.

17. On John’s symbolism as “tensive, evocative, and polyvalent,” see esp. Boring, Revelation, 55; the book’s graphic word pictures are meant to provoke reflection, not harmonization (ibid., 57; cf. Michaels, Interpreting Revelation, 16–17; for an example of deliberate polyvalence, see 17:9–10; Michaels, ibid., 106).

18. On pesher interpreters, see, e.g., Devorah Dimant, “Pesharim, Qumran,” ABD, 5:244–51; J. G. Harris, “Early Trends in Biblical Commentaries as Reflected in Some Qumran Texts,” EvQ 36 (1964): 100–105.

19. The “generation” in Mark 13:30 and parallel texts means what the term nearly always means in the Gospels: Jesus’ generation, when the temple’s destruction was fulfilled (although Jesus’ return was not necessarily meant to be; see, e.g., Craig Keener, Matthew [Downers Grove, Ill.: InterVarsity, 1997], 343, 348–49, 353; for the different idea that even the return is symbolic and was fulfilled, see, e.g., Sproul, Last Days, 51–68).

20. Tenney, Revelation, 143.

21. González, Revelation, 9. Many interpreters have neglected Revelation’s significance for its first audience (see Guthrie, Relevance, 12–17).

22. For this summary, see Mounce, Revelation, 40–41; see also the summary in Johnson, Revelation, 12–15. For a full survey of views, see Isbon T. Beckwith, The Apocalypse of John (New York: Macmillan, 1922), 318–34; Craig R. Koester, “On the Verge of the Millennium: A History of the Interpretation of Revelation,” Word & World 15 (1995): 128–36; and InterVarsity’s commentary on Revelation from the writings of the early church fathers (at the time of this writing, the Revelation volume remains forthcoming).

23. A basic problem is distinguishing which elements belong to which categories. This commentary will suggest that much of the book provides principles for the end-time church living in the present era between the first and second comings, and argue that chapters 19–22 are completely future.

24. See Gordon D. Fee, New Testament Exegesis: A Handbook for Students and Pastors (Philadelphia: Westminster, 1983), 42–43, who follows a partial apocalyptic approach; also the eclectic approach in Beale, Revelation, 44–49.

25. Boring, Revelation, 55.

26. E.g., the sevens in T. Moses 3:14. On numerical symbolism, see Adela Yarbro Collins, “Numerical Symbolism in Jewish and Early Christian Apocalyptic Literature,” ANRW 2.21.2, 1221–87.

27. See Plut. E at Delphi 8, Mor. 388C; Gen. of Soul 18, Mor. 1018C; R. A. Laroche, “Popular Symbolic/Mystical Numbers in Antiquity,” Latomus 54 (1995): 568–76; M. J. J. Menken, Numerical Literary Techniques in John: The Fourth Evangelist’s Use of Numbers of Words and Syllables, NovTSup 55 (Leiden: E. J. Brill, 1985), 27–29. Many cultures use symbolic numbers in relation to divine matters (e.g., John S. Mbiti, African Religions and Philosophies [Garden City, N.Y.: Doubleday, 1970], 73).

28. Bauckham, Climax of Prophecy, 22–37.

29. For seven, see, e.g., Aulus Gellius, 3.10; Apuleius, Metam. 11.1; Jos. & Asen. 2:6/10–11; Philo, Abraham 28; Creation, 99–100, 111–16; Spec. 2.56–62.

30. For other functions in ancient texts, see T. Abram. 2:5A; Jos. & Asen. 3:2/3; p. Meg. 1:9, §12; Arrian, Alex. 5.29.1; PGM, 36.19.

31. See A. Geyser, “The Twelve Tribes in Revelation: Judean and Judeo-Christian Apocalypticism,” NTS 28 (July 1982): 388–99 (p. 388).

32. Some view it in other ways, such as a drama (Bowman, First Christian Drama, 9; J. L. Blevins, “The Genre of Revelation,” RevExp 77 [1980]: 393–408).

33. In fact the title for the genre, “apocalyptic,” comes from the Greek title of Revelation, Apocalypsis. On the genre, see, e.g., James H. Charlesworth, The Old Testament Pseudepigrapha and the New Testament: Prolegomena for the Study of Christian Origins, SNTSM 54 (Cambridge: Cambridge Univ. Press, 1985), 87; F. F. Bruce, The New Testament Documents: Are They Reliable? (5th rev. ed.; Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 1981), 11; Hugh Anderson, “A Future for Apocalyptic?” 56–71 in Biblical Studies: Essays in Honor of William Barclay, ed. J. R. McKay and J. F. Miller (Philadelphia: Westminster, 1976), 68.

34. Others used such language; see similar images of a future golden age in Virgil, Ecl. 4.4–25; Roman portents of doom (e.g., Herodian, 1.14.1); even visions of the afterlife (Plutarch, Divine Vengeance, Mor. 548A–568A) and visions of the spirit world (PGM, 4.662–64).

35. See Caird, Commentary on Revelation, 216–17. Slaves likewise used fables to depict reality without punishment (Phaedrus 3, prologue 33–44).

36. See James Kallas, “The Apocalypse—An Apocalyptic Book?” JBL 86 (March 1967): 69–80; cf. Ellul, Apocalypse, 20–35; Fiorenza, Revelation, 170.

37. See the judgment of Bowman, First Christian Drama, 11.

38. See Talbert, Apocalypse, 4; on blending of elements, see also Aune, Prophecy in Early Christianity, 274; Beasley-Murray, Revelation, 19. Many writers regard its genre as composite (Feuillet, Apocalypse, 8; Corsini, Apocalypse, 24–34; Roloff, Revelation, 8; Hill, New Testament Prophecy, 71–75; Beale, Revelation, 37–43; Aune, Revelation, 1:lxx–xc).

39. M. E. Stone, “Apocalyptic—Vision or Hallucination,” Milla wa-Milla 14 (1974): 47–56 (NTA, 20:91), argues that the authors believed themselves genuinely inspired.

40. See Rissi, Time and History, 20–21; Richard J. Bauckham, “The Role of the Spirit in the Apocalypse,” EvQ 52 (1980): 66–83. Aune, Prophecy in Early Christianity, 274–75, argues for “a combination of prophetic experience and literary artifice.”

41. T. L. Robinson, “Oracles and Their Society: Social Realities as Reflected in the Oracles of Claros and Didyma,” Semeia 56 (1991): 59–77.

42. John J. Collins, The Sibylline Oracles of Egyptian Judaism, SBLDS 13 (Missoula, Mont.: Society of Biblical Literature, 1972), 4–5, 117; G. W. Bowersock, Augustus and the Greek World (Oxford: Clarendon, 1965), 110; in Judaism, Sib. Oracles 3.350–80. In this period, however, many embraced Rome’s propaganda (A. Erskine, “The Romans as Common Benefactors,” Historia 43 [1994]: 70–87); prophets had long been used to legitimate rulers (see, e.g., J. N. Bremmer, “Prophets, Seers, and Politics in Greece, Israel, and Early Modern Europe,” Numen 40 [1993]: 150–83).

43. For diverse end-time views in the Dead Sea Scrolls, see S. L. Mattila, “Two Contrasting Eschatologies at Qumran (4Q246 vs 1QM),” Biblica 75 (1994): 518–38; for reuse of prophetic language, see, e.g., H. W. Parke, Sibyls and Sibylline Prophecy in Classical Antiquity, ed. B. C. McGing (New York: Routledge, 1988), 15. For a thorough examination of Revelation’s use of the Old Testament (with recognition of the value of the Old Testament contexts), see Beale, Revelation, 76–99.

44. Today usually the furthest commentators go is to suggest an arrangement of heterogeneous traditions collected by a single author (Elisabeth Schüssler Fiorenza, “The Revelation to John,” 99–120 in Hebrews-Revelation, ed. G. Krodel [Philadelphia: Fortress, 1977], 100–101), though Ford thinks it was a Jewish apocalypse (with material from John the Baptist) later edited by Christians (Revelation, 4–7, 22–26). Aune’s thorough commentary, however, is exceptional in its revival of source criticism (Aune, Revelation, 1:cxviii–cxxxiv, in my view not taking sufficient account of the different genre of Rev. 2–3 here).

45. E.g., Feuillet, Apocalypse, 23–36; Rissi, Time and History, 17–18; Fiorenza, Revelation, 163; Charlesworth, The Old Testament Pseudepigrapha and the New Testament, 87.

46. Many irregularities in the grammar occur in Old Testament allusions, reflecting especially LXX language (Beale, Revelation, 100–105); on Revelation’s syntax, see further Aune, Revelation, 1:clxii–ccvii.

47. For different outlines of specific points, see, e.g., Tenney, Revelation, 32–35; Bowman, First Christian Drama, 13; Caird, Commentary on Revelation, 105; Ford, Revelation, 46–50; Talbert, Apocalypse, 12. Most interesting—but unlikely—is the linking of Revelation with a lectionary calendar (M. D. Goulder, “The Apocalypse as an Annual Cycle of Prophecies,” NTS 27 [April 1981]: 342–67; cf. the paschal liturgy in Shepherd, Paschal Liturgy, 77–84).

48. Mounce, Revelation, 39, 45; Beale, Revelation, 108–51 (though Aune, Revelation, 1.xci–xciii, is skeptical). Talbert, Apocalypse, 7, provides parallels in apocalyptic texts and explication from a rhetorical handbook.

49. See Mounce, Revelation, 32, for other references; see more fully Beale, Revelation, 4–27. Clement of Alexandria, Who Is the Rich Man That Shall be Saved? 42, places this less explicitly under the “tyrant.” This remained the majority view at least through the late twentieth century (Hemer, Letters to the Seven Churches, 3; H. Koester, Introduction to New Testament (Philadelphia: Fortress, 1982), 2:250; A. C. Isbell, “The Dating of Revelation,” Restoration Quarterly 9 [1966]: 107–17; Charlesworth, Old Testament Pseudepigrapha and New Testament, 87).

50. See Sproul, Last Days, 141–45, following Kenneth L. Gentry Jr., Before Jerusalem Fell: Dating the Book of Revelation (Tyler, Tex.: Institute for Christian Economics, 1989).

51. Against contrary arguments, when Irenaeus speaks of something “seen” in Domitian’s time, he undoubtedly refers to the vision he just noted that John “saw.”

52. For dates from A.D. 68–70, see John A. T. Robinson, Redating the New Testament (Philadelphia: Westminster, 1976), 221–53; E. Lipinski, “L’apocalypse et le martyre de Jean à Jérusalem,” NovT 11 (1969): 225–32; Albert A. Bell, Jr., “The Date of John’s Apocalypse: The Evidence of Some Roman Historians Reconsidered,” NTS 25 (Oct. 1978): 93–102. Others suggest that he wrote in Domitian’s time, but like other writers of apocalypses antedated his work (to Vespasian’s; Feuillet, Apocalypse, 93).

53. For the imminent destruction of Jerusalem here, see, e.g., Brooke Foss Westcott, The Gospel According to St. John: The Authorized Version with Introduction and Notes (Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 1950, reprint of 1881 ed.), p. lxxxvii.

54. Aune, Revelation, 1:lvii–lxx, dates the traditions in the 60s or earlier, but the final edition late in Domitian’s or early in Trajan’s reign. Claims that Revelation also opposes a proto-Gnosticism by reinvigorating eschatology (Elisabeth Schüssler Fiorenza, “Apocalyptic and Gnosis in the Book of Revelation,” JBL 92 [Dec. 1973]: 565–81 [p. 581]) are possible but lack much evidence.

55. Cf., e.g., Homer, Iliad 2.407; 7.47; Od. 3.110; 17.3, 54, 391; Sophocles, Oed. Rex. 298; Euripides, Andromache 1253–58.

56. E.g., Arrian, Alex. 4.10.5–7; 7.29.3; for his successors, e.g., P. Petr. 3.43, col. 3.11–12.

57. People even swore by the emperor (CIL, 2.1963; Apuleius, Metam. 9.42; by a Jew in CPJ 2:213–14, §427); oaths of loyalty to the emperor were common (e.g., CIG, 3.137; CIL, 2.172) but resisted by Christians (see B. F. Harris, “Oaths of Allegiance to Caesar,” Prudentia 14 [1982]: 109–22). On divine honors for the emperor, see sources in Jane F. Gardner, Leadership and the Cult of Personality (London: J. M. Dent, 1974), 117–24.

58. Cf. Pausanius, 1.40.1; 3.11.5.

59. E.g., Herodian, 4.2.1, 11. On the Roman ideal in theory limiting imperial claims, cf. A. Wallace-Hadrill, “Civilis Princeps: Between Citizen and King,” JRS 72 (1982): 32–48; for Greek limitations, see S. R. F. Price, “Gods and Emperors: The Greek Language of the Roman Imperial Cult,” JHS 104 (1984): 79–95.

60. On avoidance of this act of hubris in the west, see P. Lond. 1912.48–51; Tacitus, Ann. 4.38; for similar attitudes even among Greeks, see Sophocles, Ajax 758–79; Arrian, Alex. 4.11.1–9; 4.12.1. For posthumous execration, see Dio Cassius, 60.4.5–6; Herodian, 1.15.1.

61. See Yamauchi, The Archaeology of New Testament Cities, 57, 66, 83–85; Ramsay, Letters to the Seven Churches, 231–32, 283, 366–67, 410; Aune, Revelation, 2:775–79. For Ephesus in particular, see Sjef van Tilborg, Reading John in Ephesus, NovTSup 83 (Leiden: Brill, 1996), 40–47, 174–212; R. Oster, “Christianity and Emperor Veneration in Ephesus: Iconography of a Conflict,” Restoration Quarterly 25 (1982): 143–49.

62. The title “lord” also applied to earlier emperors, including Augustus and Nero; see G. Adolf Deissmann, Light From the Ancient Past (Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, repr. 1978), 351–55 (against Arthur Darby Nock, Early Gentile Christianity and Its Hellenistic Background [New York: Harper & Row, 1964], 34; Dio Cassius shows that this is not simply an Egyptian custom). This contrasts starkly with the title applied to Christ (Oscar Cullmann, The Christology of the New Testament [Philadelphia: Westminster, 1959], 228).

63. E.g., Suetonius, Dom. 12; Aulus Gellius, 15.11.3–5; Philostratus, V.A. 7–8; cf. M. H. Williams, “Domitian, the Jews and the ‘Judaizers’—A Simple Matter of Cupiditas and Maiestas?” Historia 39 (1990): 196–211; Sifre Deut. 344.3.2; Sib. Oracles 5.39–46.

64. Rome required of them other forms of respect; see Alfredo Mordechai Rabello, “The Legal Condition of the Jews in the Roman Empire,” ANRW (1980) 10.13.662–762 (pp. 703–4).

65. E.g., CPJ, 2:125–28, §§183–93.

66. Other evidence, such as a Smynean inscription, demonstrate that Judean immigration to Asia continued in the second century A.D. (IGR 4.1431.29 in Aune, Revelation, 1:164).

67. For conflict in second century and later sources, see, e.g., R. T. Herford, Christianity in Talmud and Midrash (Clifton, N.J.: Reference Book, 1966), 221–26, 282–85.

68. For potential troubles created by the clash of the church and imperial cult in this period, see, e.g., F. C. J. D. Cuss, Imperial Cult and Honorary Terms in the New Testament (Fribourg: Fribourg Univ. Press, 1974); S. R. F. Price, “Between Man and God: Sacrifice in the Roman Imperial Cult,” JRS 70 (1980): 28–43.

69. See Tertullian, Apol. 5.4. For Domitian’s claims to deity, see, e.g., Suetonius, Dom. 12; Dio Cassius, 67.13.4. For genuine persecution (whether official or unofficial) under Domitian, see Hemer, Letters to the Seven Churches, 7–11; W. M. Ramsay, The Church in the Roman Empire Before A.D. 170 (New York: G. P. Putnam, 1893), 196–213; rabbinic texts also suggest Roman persecution of Christians. Others think that it reflects merely sporadic persecution (Adela Yarbro Collins, “Dating the Apocalypse of John,” Biblical Research 26 [1981]: 33–45); in any case, Revelation reflects some suffering (e.g., 2:13) and expectation of more.

70. For the motif of challenge from an empire’s suppression of local religions, see, e.g., Dan. 3:1–18; Judith 3:8; 2 Macc. 11:23. Eastern rulers also demanded reverence (Philostratus, V.A. 1.27–28).

71. Talbert, Apocalypse, 25. Beale, Revelation, 28–33, allows both, but sees compromise as the primary threat.

72. Lewis, Questions, 133; see also 89.

73. Ibid., 129–30.

74. Graham, Approaching Hoofbeats, 19–20.

75. As noted in ibid., 23.

76. Bruce, New Testament Documents, 11; cf. idem, The Message of the New Testament (Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 1981), 86–87; Vincent Taylor, The Atonement in New Testament Teaching (London: Epworth, 1945), 34.

77. Ellul, Apocalypse, 58.

78. Many scholars have sought to understand and articulate Revelation’s relevance; see examples in Wainwright, Mysterious Apocalypse, 161–222.

1. Bowman, First Christian Drama, 10. Some argue that the full title subsumes all of 1:1–3 (Michaels, Revelation, 46); Aune, Revelation, 1:22, observes that ancient authors frequently used their first sentence as a title.

2. E.g., PGM, 13.343; 36.211–12.

3. In favor of the objective genitive, see, e.g., Corsini, Apocalypse, 67–72; for both, see, e.g., Peterson, Reversed Thunder, 26.

4. So, e.g., Leon Morris, Apocalyptic (Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 1972), 52; M. A. Knibb, The First and Second Books of Esdras (Cambridge: Cambridge Univ. Press, 1979), 106–7; Hill, New Testament Prophecy, 72.

5. Some doubt that one of the Twelve would have written Rev. 21:14 (e.g., Michaels, Revelation, 19), but John there writes of the Twelve as a group in a manner already well established in apostolic tradition, e.g., Eph. 2:20; see Feuillet, Apocalypse, 107–8. John does not identify himself as an apostle, but sometimes Paul also does not (Phil. 1:1; 1 Thess. 1:1; 2 Thess. 1:1; Philem. 1).

6. See the summary in Mounce, Revelation, 27–28. For fuller evidence for Johannine authorship (yet recognizing the problems in the evidence), see Donald Guthrie, New Testament Introduction, 4th rev. ed. (Downers Grove, Ill.: InterVarsity, 1990), 932–48; D. A. Carson, Douglas J. Moo, and Leon Morris, An Introduction to the New Testament (Grand Rapids: Zondervan, 1992), 468–73. But even some evangelical scholars remain unsure which John is in view (Aune, Revelation, 1:xlvii–lvi; Beale, Revelation, 34–36).

7. Epictetus, Disc. 1.19.19; 4.7.23; see further comments in Dale B. Martin, Slavery As Salvation (New Haven: Yale Univ. Press, 1990), 49, 55–56.

8. E.g., 1 Enoch 1:2; 72:1; 74:2; 75:3; Jub. 1:27; 2:1; 32:21; 4 Ezra 4:1; 3 Bar. 1:8; 5:1; 6:1; also later Gnostic texts in TNHL, 308–28, 453. Cf., e.g., James C. VanderKam, “The Putative Author of the Book of Jubilees,” JSS 26 (Autumn 1981): 209–17 (p. 217).

9. Ford, Revelation, 373–74.

10. Other apocalyptic writers also “testified” of what they saw (e.g., 1 Enoch 104:11), and early Christians regularly “testified,” or “bore witness,” to what God had revealed to them (e.g., John 15:27; Acts 1:8). For the “witness” theme in Revelation, see Allison A. Trites, The New Testament Concept of Witness, SNTSM 31 (Cambridge: Cambridge Univ. Press, 1977), 154–74.

11. E.g., Richard A. Burridge, Four Gospels, One Jesus? (Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 1994), 20; Aune, The New Testament in Its Literary Environment, 171. Wayne A. Meeks, The Moral World of the First Christians, LEC 6 (Philadelphia: Westminster, 1986), 62, estimates a 10 percent literacy rate, though we may suppose moderate reading literacy somewhat higher in the cities.

12. See Caird, Commentary on Revelation, 287.

13. See further Craig Keener, A Commentary on the Gospel of Matthew (Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 1999), 165–66.

14. For an argument for the continuing of a variety of supernatural revelations, see especially Jack Deere, Surprised by the Voice of God (Grand Rapids: Zondervan, 1996); cf. also Craig S. Keener, 3 Crucial Questions About the Holy Spirit (Grand Rapids: Baker, 1996), 131–80.

15. Patrick Johnstone, Operation World (Grand Rapids: Zondervan, 1993), 164 (despite China’s “official” estimate, its State Statistics Bureau put the figure at 75 million Christians—see “Counting China’s Christians,” CT [June 21, 1993], 60; for lower estimates, see Kim-Kwong Chan, “The Miracles After Missions,” Christian History 52 [1996]: 42–44 [p. 43]). For articles on subsequent persecution in China, see Kenneth Woodward, “Public Enemy Number One,” NW (Aug. 26, 1991), 47; Andrew Wark, “The Bloody Seed of Chinese Persecution,” CT (Nov. 23, 1992), 54–55, 61; Marco Restelli, “China’s Secret Holy War,” WPR (May 1994), 43.

16. Johnstone, Operation World, 405–6; on the Nepali church, see Barbara Thompson, “Nepal’s Book of Acts,” CT (Nov. 9, 1992), 14–18.

17. On the weakness of personal evangelism even among most North American evangelicals, see “Evangelism in the ’90s,” CT (Dec. 16, 1991), 34–45.

18. Henry W. Frost, Matthew Twenty-Four and the Revelation (New York: Oxford, 1924), 144.

19. E.g., Caird, Commentary on Revelation, 12, 235–36.

20. See e.g., Rissi, Time and History, 22; similar wording in 4 Ezra 4:44–50; 6:18; 8:61–62.

21. Oscar Cullmann, Christ and Time, tr. F. V. Filson (Philadelphia: Westminster, 1950), 40; Beale, Revelation, 185, 1134.

22. Some less conservative commentators thus opine that John was simply mistaken (Boring, Revelation, 73).

23. Note further comments in Gordon D. Fee and Douglas Stuart, How to Read the Bible for All Its Worth, 2d ed. (Grand Rapids: Zondervan, 1993), 243–44.

24. Michaels, Revelation, 48; cf. p. 52.

25. Kevin A. Miller, “Why Did Columbus Sail?” Christian History 35 (1992): 9–16 (p. 10); Steven J. Keillor, This Rebellious House: American History and the Truth of Christianity (Downers Grove, Ill.: InterVarsity, 1996), 37; Reginald Stackhouse, “Columbus’s Millennial Voyage,” Christian History 61 (1999): 19.

26. Kyle, The Last Days, 55, 61–62, 65; Eric W. Gritsch, “The Unrefined Reformer,” Christian History 39 (1993): 35–37. Reacting against apocalyptists’ excesses, Reformers like Calvin and Zwingli became antiapocalyptic (The Last Days, 60).

27. Walter Klaasen, “A Fire That Spread: Anabaptist Beginnings,” Christian History 4 (1985): 7–9 (p. 9); Robert L. Wise, “Münster’s Monster,” Christian History, 61 (1999): 23–25.

28. “A Gallery of Factions, Friends and Foes,” Christian History 4 (1985): 13–16 (p. 14).

29. Roger Hayden, “To Walk in All His Ways,” Christian History 4 (1985): 7–9, 35 (p. 8). In 1600s England, cf. also the Fifth Monarchists’ belief that Daniel’s fifth kingdom (the kingdom of God) was near (“The Fifth Monarchy Movement,” Christian History 5 [1986]: 10).

30. “The Wissahickon Hermits,” Christian History 5 (1986): 27.

31. Bruce L. Shelley, “Counter-Culture Christianity,” Christian History 45 (1995): 32–34 (p. 33).

32. “God’s Wonderful Working,” Christian History 23 (1989): 12–18 (p. 15).

33. Harry S. Stout, “Preaching the Insurrection,” Christian History 50 (1996): 11–17 (p. 14).

34. For Wesley’s complaint about the Colonies’ inconsistent standard of justice and freedom (denouncing British policy while exploiting African slaves), see “Selfish, Ungrateful Rebels,” Christian History 50 (1996): 39–41 (p. 39).

35. See Mark Noll, “A Revolution in Religion, Too,” Christian History 50 (1996): 42–44 (p. 43).

36. James H. Moorhead, “Preaching the Holy War,” Christian History 33 (1992): 38–41 (p. 39).

37. Bruce Shelley, “The Great Disappointment,” Christian History 61 (1999): 31–33.

38. Roger J. Green, “William Booth’s Theology of Redemption,” Christian History 26 (1990): 27–30 (p. 28).

39. “1899: The Names Have Changed, but the Worries Remain,” NW (Jan. 11, 1999), 10.

40. Cf. the Crusaders’ belief that the sea would miraculously part; instead the shipowners sold the children as slaves to Muslims (Sir Steven Runciman, “The Children’s Crusade,” Christian History 40 [1993]: 30–31).

41. Cf. Christian Research Institute’s wiser response, 99 Reasons Why No One Knows When Christ Will Return, by B. J. Oropeza.

42. Cf., e.g., Jack T. Chick, “The Last Generation” (Chino, Calif.: Chick Publications, 1972), 4. For a different and more careful reading of the passage’s context, see Craig L. Blomberg, Matthew (Nashville: Broadman, 1992), 354–64; Craig S. Keener, Matthew (Downers Grove, Ill.: InterVarsity, 1997), 347–53.

43. Duke Chronicle (Sept. 14, 1988), 1 (circulation: 25,000).

44. Cf. also “Rapture Seer Hedges on Latest Guess,” CT (Oct. 21, 1988), 43. For a history of failed predictions among popular Bible prophecy teachers, see Dwight Wilson, Armageddon Now! The Premillenarian Response to Russia and Israel Since 1917 (Grand Rapids: Baker, 1977); see also Paul Boyer, When Time Shall Be No More: Prophecy Belief in Modern American Culture (Cambridge, Mass.: Belknapp of Harvard Univ., 1992); Russell Chandler, Doomsday: The End of the World—A View Through Time (Ann Arbor, Mich.: Servant, 1995).

45. John F. Walvoord, Armageddon, Oil and the Middle East Crisis, rev. ed. (Grand Rapids: Zondervan, 1990), with over one million copies in print; see the critique by Edwin Yamauchi, “Updating the Armageddon Calendar,” CT (April 29, 1991), 50–51. Although Walvoord did not engage in this speculation, about 15 percent of Americans thought the brief Gulf War was the beginning of Armageddon (“Goodbye, Armageddon,” CT [May 27, 1991], 57).

46. Kyle, The Last Days, 120, cites the approximations of Grant R. Jeffrey, Armageddon: Appointment with Destiny (Toronto: Frontier Research, 1988), 193; and Jack Van Impe (who also urged in 1975 that the “Soviet flag would fly over Independence Hall in Philadelphia by 1976”). The fixation on this time frame in some occult circles (see The Last Days, 151–56) may reveal something about Satan’s plans (Matthew Fox expects the coming of the cosmic Christ then; see Steven Keillor, This Rebellious House [Downers Grove, Ill.: InterVarsity, 1996], 303) but should not prove influential for Christian thinking (Rom. 16:19).

47. “Will God Destroy the World in the Year 2000?” Weekly World News (Dec. 29, 1998), 10–11.

48. Lisa Merakis, “The Millennium Countdown Has Begun!” Weekly World News (Dec. 29, 1998), 36.

49. Lila Schvandt, “Space Aliens Building New Noah’s Ark … and Here’s How You Can Get on It, Says Expert!” Weekly World News (Dec. 29, 1998), 35. The same issue reports an apparition of Mary in Egypt (“Glowing Image of Virgin Mary Dazzles Thousands!” Weekly World News [Dec. 29, 1998], 15).

50. George Sanford, “Jesus Is Back on Earth AND the End of the World Is Near!” Weekly World News (Aug. 12, 1997), 8–9.

51. R. Neale Lind, “Judgment Day—Are You Prepared?” Weekly World News (Dec. 29, 1998), 38–39. In another article, Beatrice Dexter, “Simple 12-Point Plan That Will Get You Into Heaven!” Weekly World News (Dec. 29, 1998), 38–39, includes as pointers for eternal life cherishing all God’s creatures (“You might even consider becoming a vegetarian,” 38), wearing “religious symbols,” and giving “to the church.”

52. Herod the Great wanted to kill Jesus, who by then was as old as two (Matt. 2:16), and Herod died in 4 B.C. Our calendars are off. Pastor Lee Chang-rim announced the Rapture for Oct. 28, 1992, though he did apologize when it failed to occur (CT [Jan. 11, 1993], 54). Slightly more wisely, Harold Camping did not expect it until Sept. 1994 (“Rapture Date Set—Again,” CT [Nov. 23, 1992], 48; “End-Times Prediction Draws Strong Following,” CT [Jun. 20, 1994], 46–47; “Are You Ready?” [tract from Year of Jubilee Ministries]; “Camping Misses End-Times Deadline,” CT [Oct. 24, 1994], 84).

1. Pliny, Ep. 10.96. Given the large number of Christians by the late second century, Tertullian ridicules the rhetorical inaccuracy of those who call for Christians to be thrown to the lion: “What, all of them to one lion?” (Tertullian, Apol. 40.2).

2. Bo Reicke, The New Testament Era: The World of the Bible from 500 B.C. to A.D. 100, tr. D. E. Green (Philadelphia: Fortress, 1974), 231.

3. Ramsay, Letters to the Seven Churches, 188.

4. Ibid., 191.

5. See Stanley K. Stowers, Letter Writing in Greco-Roman Antiquity, LEC 5 (Philadelphia: Westminster, 1986), 20.

6. E.g., Ep. Arist. 185; Aune, The New Testament in Its Literary Environment, 193.

7. P. Eleph. 13.1; P. Oxy. 292.2; 299.1; B.G.U. 1079.2; Demosthenes, Letter 1.1; 3 Macc. 7:1; Acts 23:26. Jewish writers in Greek often maintained the Greek custom (e.g., 1 Macc. 10:18; 12:6; T. Abr. 16A; 13B; Acts 15:23; James 1:1).

8. See A. M. Hunter, The Epistle to the Romans (London: SCM, 1955), 26.

9. Wilhelm Wuellner, “Paul’s Rhetoric of Argumentation in Romans: An Alternative to the Donfried-Karris Debate Over Romans,” CBQ 38 (July 1976): 335–36; cf. Stowers, Letter Writing, 20–21.

10. E.g., Plutarch, E at Delphi 17, Mor. 392A; see further Aune, Prophecy in Early Christianity, 280–81. Commentators cite Plutarch, Isis 9, for a closer verbal parallel to a deity encompassing all that matters in past, present, and future; Aune, Revelation, 1:30–32, provides many parallels, suggesting that the Jewish expansion cited below may reflect Hellenistic influence in its wording.

11. Sib. Or. 3.15–16. See also the Jerusalem Targum at Ex. 3:14 and esp. Deut. 32:39 (Beasley-Murray, Revelation, 54; see further Ford, Revelation, 376; Beale, Revelation, 187). John’s awkward Greek expression in “who is, and who was, and who is to come” probably reflects an attempt to render a Semitic original (Tenney, Revelation, 14).

12. Adding to the possible confusion, some early Jewish texts linked angels with God’s Spirit (cf. Asc. Isa. 9:36); some early Christians also mentioned angels alongside the Trinity, though usually maintaining the distinction (Justin, First Apol. 6). Talbert, Apocalypse, 14, thinks John portrays the Holy Spirit in angelic imagery here.

13. Tobit 12:15; 1 Enoch 20:1–8; 2 Enoch 19:1–3; 4QSerek. See different groups of seven spirits in T. Reub. 2; 2 Enoch 19:6. Aune, Revelation, 1:34–35 argues this view.

14. Caird, Commentary on Revelation, 15; Beasley-Murray, Revelation, 55; Metzger, Breaking the Code, 23; Rissi, Time and History, 58; cf. F. F. Bruce, “The Spirit in the Apocalypse,” 333–36 (esp. 336). Fekkes, Isaiah, 108–10, is more skeptical of a use of Isaiah here; the Spirit is sevenfold only in the LXX, unless one includes “Spirit of the LORD.” Cf. a sevenfold spirit in 1 Enoch 61:11 and the messianic interpretation of Isa. 11:2 in b. Sanh. 93b; Ruth Rab. 7:2.

15. Cf. Moses as the “witness without falsehood” in Philo, That the Worse Is Wont to Attack the Better 138.

16. Mitchell G. Reddish, “Martyr Christology in the Apocalypse,” JSNT 33 (1988): 85–95, notes that Jesus’ various roles in Revelation emphasize his martyrdom, reminding the audience that martyrdom is victory, not defeat.

17. E.g., Dan. 10:13, 20; Jub. 15:21–32, 35:17, 49:2–4; 1 Enoch 40:9; 3 Enoch 26:12; 29:1; 30:1–2; Mek. Shir. 2:112ff; Sifre Deut. 315.2.1.

18. Cf. other early Jewish sources in Beasley-Murray, Revelation, 57–58.

19. Israel’s future exaltation to rule the nations became a popular Jewish tradition (Wisd. Sol. 5:16; 1QM 1.5; 12.16; CD 6.5–6; Jub. 22:11–12; 32:19; Sifre Deut. 47.2.8).

20. Emphasized by William H. Brownlee, “The Priestly Character of the Church in the Apocalypse,” NTS 5 (April 1959): 224–25. A number of actual Jewish priests also became Christians (Acts 6:7).

21. Andrew J. Bandstra, “ ‘A Kingship and Priests’: Inaugurated Eschaology in the Apocalypse,” Calvin Theological Journal 27 (1992): 10–25, emphasizes present intercession and mediation of Christ’s message.

22. Jesus continues to be hailed explicitly as deity even more often in early patristic texts, e.g., Justin, First Apol. 67; Second Apol. 13; also reported in Pliny, Ep. 10.96. Cf. Larry W. Hurtado, One God, One Lord: Early Christian Devotion and Ancient Jewish Monotheism (Philadelphia: Fortress, 1988).

23. Cf. Mark 13:26; 14:62; see further Beale, “Use of Daniel in the Synoptic Eschatological Discourse,” 138–39; cf. Bauckham, Climax of Prophecy, 319–21. For John, Jesus’ “piercing” probably means the spear-thrust of John 19:37; Rev. 1:7 is closer in wording to John 19 than to the LXX of Zech. 12:10.

24. Ramsay MacMullen, Roman Social Relations: 50 B.C. to A.D. 284 (New Haven, Conn.: Yale Univ. Press, 1974), 131–32. Greek readers also could envision distinct peoples elsewhere, e.g., the estimated 118 “peoples” of India (Arrian, Ind. 7.1).

25. E.g., Plutarch, E at Delphi, passim. For the use of vowels in magic, see Aune, Revelation, 1:57–59.

26. Cf. Robert Hayward, Divine Name and Presence: The Memra (Totowa, N.J.: Allanheld, Osmun & Co., 1981), 34. Often they also included the middle letter (Mem) to depict God as “truth” or “faithfulness” (Aleph-Mem-Tav), p. Sanh. 1:1, §4; Gen. Rab. 81:2).

27. Plutarch, Isis 2, 75; Mor. 352A, 381B; other deities in Apuleius, Metam. 4.30. In some unrelated cultures, see John S. Mbiti, African Religions and Philosophies (Garden City, N.Y.: Doubleday, 1970), 43.

28. Zeus in Orphic Hymns 15.7; the beginning and end belong to Apollo in Orphic Hymns 34.15. The use of “Alpha” and “Omega” in magical texts (e.g., P. Köln, 6; citations in David E. Aune, “The Apocalypse of John and Greco-Roman Revelatory Magic,” NTS 33 [1987]: 481–501) might reflect Christian influence.

29. E.g., Philo, Noah’s Work As a Planter 93.

30. Josephus, Ant. 8.280; in Apion 2.190 he adds also the “middle.”

31. E.g., Wisd. Sol. 7:25; 2 Macc. 6:26; 3 Macc. 5:7; Ep. Arist. 185; Sib. Or. 1.66. The LXX employs the title over 150 times, usually for the Lord “of hosts.”

32. E.g., b. Shab. 88b; Yeb. 105b; Yoma 12a.

33. E.g., Virgil, Aen. 7.141, 770; 9.625; Georg. 2.325; Ovid, Metam. 1.154; 2.304 (I cite here only a small percentage of the references I collected in my own random survey of the sources). For the Greek term, cf. Orphic Hymn 18.17.

34. E.g., Homer, Od. 4.459–61; Euripides, Electra 1298–1300.

35. E.g., Josephus, Ant. 14.199.

36. Fiorenza, Revelation, 35; Aune, The New Testament in Its Literary Environment, 240. No one would be troubled by the mixing of such different blends of literature, however; thus, for example, a work of history could also open with a letter introduction (2 Macc. 1:1–6).

37. For critique, see Michaels, Revelation, 24; Robert L. Thomas, “The Chronological Interpretation of Revelation 2–3,” BibSac 124 (1967): 321–31; Lewis, Questions, 74–76; a modern example is Lindsay, New World Coming, 38. Corsini, Apocalypse, 103–9, finds the history of salvation in the letters.

38. See Ramsay, Letters to the Seven Churches, 183–86; Hemer, Letters to the Seven Churches, 15; Ford, Revelation, 382. Some of Ramsay’s details regarding the road system appear to be inferences, though some of the roads are attested by milestones (Aune, Revelation, 1:131). When sequence differed from what one would expect, ancients often noticed (e.g., Plutarch, T.T. 4.7, Mor. 672). Bowman, First Christian Drama, 23, suggests that the churches were arranged like a Herodian menorah, but even if true, this suggestion would require more cartographic skill on the part of John’s ancient audience than is feasible.

39. Probably also Acts 1:9–11. Clouds often accompanied divine judgment, especially in the final time (Ezek. 30:3, 18; 32:6–7; Joel 2:2).

40. For Christian influence in the collapse of totalitarian states in Eastern Europe, see Bud Bultmann, Revolution by Candlelight (Portland: Multnomah, 1991); for Christian resistance to apartheid, see, e.g., Albert Luthuli, postscript to “Let My People God,” 409–26 in Classics of Christian Missions, ed. Francis M. DuBose (Nashville: Broadman, 1979); Caesar Molebatsi with David Virtue, A Flame for Justice (Batavia, Ill.: Lion, 1991).

41. See “The Church Triumphant in Iran,” Mountain Movers (May 1995), 6–8; “Prominent Church Leaders Slain,” CT (Aug. 15, 1994), 54; “Protestants Live with Fear, Insecurity,” CT (Feb. 6, 1995), 58.

42. See Charles Colson, “Tortured for Christ—and Ignored,” CT (Marc. 4, 1996), 80. On the Islamic north’s repression of the largely Christian and traditionalist south, see Jeffrey Bartholet, “Hidden Horrors in Sudan,” NW (Oct. 12, 1992), 49; Shyam Bhatia, “A War’s Living Booty,” WPR (Aug. 1995), 40; “Sudan: The Ravages of War” (New York: Amnesty International USA, 1993); Marcus Mabry, “The Price Tag on Freedom,” NW (Ma. 3, 1999), 50–51.

43. Beginning with prayer; see David Bryant, In the Gap (Ventura, Calif.: Regal, 1984); Johnstone, Operation World.

44. One brief but extremely practical manual on serving our communities, which I have used for some of my classes, is Joy Bolton, Ideas for Community Ministries (Birmingham: Women’s Missionary Union, 1993).

45. See Ralph W. Neighbour Jr. and Cal Thomas, Target Group Evangelism (Nashville: Broadman, 1975); one example of this is the DivorceCare video series (1994), targeted for small groups in local congregations.

46. Craig S. Keener and Glenn J. Usry, Defending Black Faith (Downers Grove, Ill.: InterVarsity, 1997), 15–16, 19.

47. Mark Galli, “Better the Infidel,” Christian History 54 (1997): 19.

48. Caird, Commentary on Revelation, 16.

49. Vincent Taylor, The Atonement in New Testament Teaching (London: Epworth, 1945), 39. The later variant, “washed,” reflects a difference of one Greek letter, but the idea appears in 7:14; cf. 1 John 1:7.

50. Graham, Approaching Hoofbeats, 23; cf. also David Wilkerson, The Vision (Old Tappan, N.J.: Revell, 1974), 113–21.

51. See most fully Hugh Ross, Beyond the Cosmos (Colorado Springs: NavPress, 1996).

52. See Mbiti, Religions, 40–41.

53. E.g., Homer, Il. 14.352–60; Mesopotamian deities in “Prayer to the Gods of Night,” ANET, 391. The Egyptians held a higher view of the chief deity Amon-Re (“Hymn to Amon-Re,” ANET, 366).

1. Tertullian, Baptism 20, in Joachim Jeremias, Unknown Sayings of Jesus, 2d ed., tr. R. H. Fuller (London: SPCK, 1964), 73.

2. Plutarch, Exile 12, Mor. 604B; Juvenal, Sat. 1.73; Tacitus, Ann. 1.53; 3.68–69; 4.13, 30; 13.43; Suetonius, Aug. 19; Gaius 14–15; Galba 10. Life on such islands was normally unpleasant (Epictetus, Disc. 1.25.20; 2.6.22).

3. Philostratus, V.A. 8.5.

4. Paulus, Sententiae 5.23.14, 19; John E. Stambaugh and David L. Balch, The New Testament in Its Social Environment, LEC 2 (Philadelphia: Westminster, 1986), 35.

5. Compare Digest 47.21.2; Sophocles, Oed. Rex 402–3, 1153; Dionysius of Halicarnasus, 10.29.1; Herodian 2.5.8; Cornelius Nepos, 19 (Phocion), 4.1.

6. Apuleius, Metam. 7.6. Philosophers might reject concern over such matters (Epictetus, Disc. 1.29.7; 1.30.2–3; 3.24.100, 109, 113; 4.4.34; 4.7.14; Dio Chrysostom, 13th Disc., In Athens 4–5; Wayne A. Meeks, The Moral World of the First Christians, LEC 6 [Philadelphia: Westminster, 1986], 49).

7. Ramsay, Letters to the Seven Churches, 83–85.

8. Caird, Commentary on Revelation, 21–23. On forms of banishment, see Aune, Revelation, 1:80–81.

9. Pliny, N.H. 4.12.69; 4.23; Talbert, Apocalypse, 3; J. N. Sanders, “St. John on Patmos,” NTS 9 (Jan. 1963): 75–85 [76]; though cf. Aune, Revelation, 1:78–79. Some cite the (unlikely) view of Victorinus of Petau (Comm. on Rev. 10.3) that Domitian condemned John to the mines on Patmos. Some thus claim that prisoners there worked the marble quarries (Bowman, First Christian Drama, 23), others that Patmos appears to have lacked mines (Sanders, “Patmos,” 76).

10. H. D. Saffrey, “Relire l’apocalypse à Patmos,” RB 82 (1975): 385–417.

11. See G. Adolf Deissmann, Light From the Ancient East (Grand Rapids: Baker, 1978), 358–59. Most scholars today accept this background (Ford, Revelation, 382; Beasley-Murray, Revelation, 65).

12. With most scholars (e.g., Arthur Darby Nock, St. Paul [New York: Harper & Row, 1963], 58; Oscar Cullmann, Early Christian Worship [Philadelphia: Westminster, 1953], 10–11; Rissi, Time and History, 28; Ugo Vanni, “Il ‘Giorno del Signore’ in Apoc. 1,10, giorno di purificazione e di discernimento,” Rivista Biblica 26 [1978]: 187–99; Beale, Revelation, 203), although some have preferred other views (e.g., Kenneth A. Strand, “Another Look at ‘Lord’s Day’ in the Early Church and in Rev. I.10,” NTS 13 [Jan. 1967]: 174–81).

13. Cf. Ep. Barn. 15.9; Justin, First Apol. 67; b. Taan. 27b. In time Sunday came to be viewed as a “little Easter.”

14. Cf. Shepherd, Paschal Liturgy, 78. Some Jewish eschatological schemes envisioned a future Sabbath era (cf. Mek. Shab. 1.38ff.; Life of Adam 51.1–2; Samuele Bacchiocchi, “Sabbatical Typologies of Messianic Redemption,” JSJ 17 [1986]: 153–76), sometimes a millennium in length (2 Enoch 33:1–3, rec. J, possibly Christian material), and some later Christians followed this with an “eighth” era typified by Christ’s resurrection on the first (eighth) day (Ep. Barn. 15.8–9).

15. On the Spirit and inspiration, see Craig S. Keener, The Spirit in the Gospels and Acts (Peabody, Mass.: Hendrickson, 1997), 10–13.

16. Cf. also Hill, New Testament Prophecy, 90. Less likely, some interpret “in the Spirit” as “in the believing community” (Richard L. Jeske, “Spirit and Community in the Johannine Apocalypse,” NTS 31 [1985]: 452–66).

17. See Cullmann, Early Christian Worship, 7.

18. Like that of Achilles, “clear as a trumpet,” in Homer, Il. 18.219; cf. Isa. 58:1.

19. T. Abr. 14; 15; 20A; Apoc. Sedr. 2:2; James H. Charlesworth, “The Jewish Roots of Christology: The Discovery of the Hypostatic Voice,” SJT 39 (1986): 19–41; idem, The Old Testament Pseudepigrapha and the New Testament, SNTSM 54 (Cambridge: Cambridge Univ. Press, 1985), 128–30; Ellul, Apocalypse, 104. For “behind him,” cf. John 20:14.

20. E.g., 1 Enoch 17:3–8; 18:1–12; 2 Enoch 20:1; 3 Enoch 42:3; 44:7.

21. Josephus, Apion 1.198–99. Menorah symbolism was common in Palestine; e.g., CIJ 2:165, §980; 2:234–35, §1197–98; G. Foerster, “Some Menorah Reliefs from Galilee,” IEJ 24 (1974): 191–96; Zvi Uri Ma’oz, “Ancient Synagogues and the Golan,” BA 51 (June 1988): 116–28 (p. 123).

22. E.g., CIJ 1:8, §4; 1:16, §14 (CIJ altogether contains about 200 examples); Harry J. Leon, The Jews of Ancient Rome (Philadelphia: Jewish Publication Society of America, 1960), 49, 196–97; Erwin R. Goodenough, Jewish Symbols in the Greco-Roman Period, 13 vols (New York: Pantheon Books, 1953–1965), 12:79–83.

23. E.g., CIJ 2:12, §743; 2:32, §771 and passim through 2:53, §801; Andrew R. Seager, “The Synagogue and the Jewish Community: The Building,” pp. 168–77 in Sardis from Prehistoric to Roman Times, ed. George M. A. Hanfmann (Cambridge: Harvard Univ. Press, 1983), 171, 176; Goodenough, Symbols, 2:77–78.

24. Goodenough, Symbols, 1:262–63; S. Dar, “Three Menorot From Western Samaria,” IEJ 34 (1984): 177–79.

25. Caird, Commentary on Revelation, 24; cf. also Beale, Revelation, 207, on the Israel symbolism of the lampstands representing the church.

26. Fortunately, few of us are likely to fall into the mistaken interpretation of Jehovah’s Witnesses, who, to preserve their tradition, understand the “Lord’s Day” as the period from 1914 forward (Revelation: Grand Climax, 22, 24).

27. Though R. B. Lewis, “Ignatius and the ‘Lord’s Day,’ ” AUSS 6 (1968): 46–59, is correct that the term “day” is lacking in the Greek original.

28. Henry Chadwick, The Early Church (New York: Penguin, 1967), 128. Constantine may have also chosen the date for Christmas to subsume worship of the sun under worship of Christ (see E. Glenn Hinson, “Worshiping Like Pagans?” Christian History 37 [1993]: 16–20 [p. 20]). For a second-century date, see in more detail Samuele Bacchiocchi, From Sabbath to Sunday: A Historical Investigation of the Rise of Sunday Observance in Early Christianity (Rome: Gregorian Univ. Press, 1977).

29. On the importance in general of consecrating some weekly day, see Eugene H. Peterson, “Confessions of a Former Sabbath Breaker,” CT (Sept. 2, 1988), 25–28; idem, “The Good-for-Nothing Sabbath,” CT (Apri. 4, 1994), 34–36.

30. See “Consider the Case for Quiet Saturdays,” CT (Nov. 5, 1976), 42.

31. Due to his verbal lucidity, many are skeptical that John’s state is ecstatic (Hill, New Testament Prophecy, 90; M. Eugene Boring, Sayings of the Risen Jesus, SNTSM 46 [Cambridge: Cambridge Univ. Press, 1982], 83). For requests for revelation, see Norman B. Johnson, Prayer in the Apocrypha and Pseudepigrapha, JBLMS 2 (Philadelphia: Society of Biblical Literature and Exegesis. 1948, 34–36); on unsolicited visions, see Aune, Prophecy In Early Christianity, 118.

32. Many Christians did seek to protect Jews from Hitler’s agents (see esp. David P. Gushee, The Righteous Gentiles of the Holocaust: A Christian Interpretation [Minneapolis: Fortress, 1994]); but these were only a small percentage of professing Christians.

33. Because Jews were exempted from worshiping the emperor, appealing to the Jewishness of their faith also provided a strategy for combating persecution by the governing authorities—though in the end it seems not to have persuaded them (see comment on 2:9).

34. Paul may have viewed Gentiles as in some sense proselytes to spiritual Judaism; see Terence L. Donaldson, “ ‘Riches for the Gentiles’ (Rom 11:12): Israel’s Rejection and Paul’s Gentile Mission,” JBL 112 (1993): 81–98.

35. For the same sort of reason, many North American evangelical leaders today have argued that in an increasingly secular society, conservative Catholics and evangelicals often share a common voice on moral and spiritual issues despite our differences; see Charles Colson and Richard John Neuhaus, eds., Evangelicals and Catholics Together (Dallas: Word, 1995).

36. F. F. Bruce, The Message of the New Testament (Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 1981), 85.

37. Adela Yarbro Collins, “The Political Perspective of the Revelation to John,” JBL 96 (June 1977): 241–56 (esp. 255–56); S. Légasse, “Les chrétiens et le pouvoir séculier d’après l’Apocalypse johannique,” Bulletin de Littérature Ecclésiastique 80 (1979): 81–95; cf. also a noneschatological equivalent in 4 Macc. 6:28–29; 17:20–21.

38. On recognizing “worship in the Spirit” as a foretaste of the future world, see David E. Aune, The Cultic Setting of Realized Eschatology in Early Christianity, NovTSup 28 (Leiden: Brill, 1972), 12–16.

39. D. L. Barr, “The Apocalypse of John as Oral Enactment,” Interp 40 (1986): 243–56, suggests that John designed Revelation for oral enactment, most likely during the Eucharistic liturgy.

40. See Bowman, First Christian Drama, 25.

41. For various views on the relevance of the Old Testament for believers today, see Walter C. Kaiser Jr., The Old Testament in Contemporary Preaching (Grand Rapids: Baker, 1973); Daniel P. Fuller, Gospel and Law: Contrast or Continuum? (Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 1980); David L. Baker, Two Testaments, One Bible, rev. ed. (Downers Grove, Ill.: InterVarsity, 1991); Wayne G. Strickland, ed., The Law, the Gospel, and the Modern Christian: Five Views (Grand Rapids: Zondervan, 1993).

42. See Keener and Usry, Defending Black Faith, 108–35.

1. See Ira Chernus, “Visions of God in Merkabah Mysticism,” JSJ 13 (1982): 123–46.

2. So Caird, Commentary on Revelation, 25. Others object that the image need not be so specific; the girdle is worn high to contrast with a laborer whose work remains incomplete (Beasley-Murray, Revelation, 66–67).

3. See further Beale, Revelation, 208–9, who associates Daniel’s images with the priesthood as well. Aune, Revelation, 1:94, parallels gold tunics in Hellenistic epiphanies.

4. Cf. Christopher Rowland, “The Vision of the Risen Christ in Rev. i.13ff.: The Debt of an Early Christology to an Aspect of Jewish Angelology,” JTS 31 (1980): 1–11; idem, “A Man Clothed in Linen: Daniel 10.6ff. and Jewish Angelology,” JSNT 24 (1985): 99–110. Cf. angelophanies in 3 Enoch 22:4–9; 26:2–7; 35:2; the similar angelophany in Apoc. Zeph. 6:11–15 may be an Ebionite response to the Christology of Rev. 1:13–16.

5. Fury in Homer, Il. 1.104; 12.466; 19.16–17, 365–66, 446; passion in Ovid, Metam. 4.348–50; beauty in Herodian 1.7.5.

6. PGM, 4.703–4; 3 En. 18:25; 35:2; Jos. and Asen. 14:9; perhaps Homer, Il. 1.200, 206.

7. Later Jewish tradition comments on these waters in its portrayals of heaven; see comment on 4:6.

8. The Old Greek version of Dan. 7:13 also conflates the two figures; see Loren T. Stuckenbruck, “ ‘One Like a Son of Man As the Ancient of Days’ in the Old Greek Recension of Daniel 7,13: Scribal Error or Theological Translation?” ZNW 86 (3–4, 1995): 268–76.

9. Aristophanes, Lysis. 1285; PGM, 4.635–38. Of a divinely terrifying mortal in Homer, Il. 18.205–6.

10. Angels: e.g., in Dan. 10:6; 2 En. 1:5; 19:1; T. Abr. 2; 7A; Jos. & Asen. 14:9; cf. further Mark S. Smith, “Biblical and Canaanite Notes to the Songs of the Sabbath Sacrifice from Qumran,” RevQ 12 (1987): 585–88. Angels were typically thought to consist of fire (1 Enoch 17:1; 2 Enoch 20:1; 29:3; 4 Ezra 8:22). Cf. Abel in T. Abr. 12A; Moses in b. B.B. 75a; Zion in 4 Ezra 10:25.

11. E.g., Dan. 7:9–10; 1 Enoch 14:18–20; 46:1; 71:10; 3 Enoch 28:7.

12. That he is likely barefoot (1:15) would not surprise John’s audience, who may have seen the common portraits of the deified emperor as barefoot (Aune, Revelation, 1:95).

13. E.g., Apollo (Ap. Rhod. 3.1283).

14. Cf. also judgment from God’s mouth in 1 Enoch 62:2; the Messiah’s in Ps. Sol. 17:35; 4 Ezra 13:10. Cf. the sword as a metaphor for speech in early Jewish texts (Prov. 12:18; 25:18; further, Aune, Revelation, 1:98–99).

15. E.g., Tobit 12:16; 1 Enoch 14:13–14; 60:3; 71:2, 11; 2 Enoch 21:2; 22:4; 4 Ezra 4:12; 10:30; Jos. & Asen. 14:10–11; T. Job 3:4/5; Apoc. Zeph. 6:9–10. Compare also the fear in Gen. 15:12; 1 Enoch 89:30–31; 102:1; Ach. Tat. 1.3.4–5.

16. See also 1 Sam. 25:37; Josephus, Ant. 6.306; 4 Macc. 4:11; Diodorus Siculus, 4.24.5; Petronius, Sat. 62; weakness in response to a revelation also appears in PGM, 4.725. But John meets the one who was truly dead and now lives (1:18).

17. Compare also Tobit 12:17; 1 Enoch 60:4; 71:3; 2 Enoch 1:8; 20:2; 21:3; 22:5; 3 Enoch 1:7, 9; 4 Ezra 5:14–15; Jos. & Asen. 14:11; PGM, 1.77–78; the command to stand in 2 Bar. 13:1–2.

18. Widespread as early as Homer (e.g., Il. 22.52, 213, 425, 482).

19. E.g., Homer, Il. 11.263, 445; Sophocles, Ajax 635; Euripides, Ch. Her. 218; Electra 142–43; Apollonius Rhodius, 2.609; 3.810 …

20. Homer, Od. 14.156; Euripides, Hippol. 56–57, 1447; similar expressions in Euripides, Hec. 1.

21. Anubis in PGM, 4.340–41, cf. Apollodorus, 3.12.6. In Jewish tradition, of course, God or one of his chief angels held the keys (e.g., 3 Bar. 11:2; 4 Bar. 9:5; b. Sanh. 113a; but demons in 2 En. 42:1).

22. The now-common homiletical portrayal of Jesus as defeating Satan and rescuing the dead in Hades, however, is post-New Testament; see “Christ’s Descent Into Hell” (tr. F. Scheidweiler in New Testament Apocrypha, 1:470–76).

23. One could take the “now” and “later” clauses as explaining “what you have seen” (Mounce, Revelation, 82), but this is less likely; all three clauses are parallel in formulation. Beale, Revelation, 152–60, finds an allusion to Dan. 2:28–29, 45 (probable at least in “what is to come”).

24. E.g., Homer, Il. 1.70; Plutarch, E at Delphi 6, Mor. 387B; Egyptian Book of the Dead, spell 172.S-3. Gentiles divided time into past, present, and future (Seneca, Dial. 10.10.2) and debated whether oracular deities genuinely ruled or merely predicted the future (Lucan, C.W. 5.91–93).

25. They customarily used language about past, present, and future revelation similar to John’s here (Jub. 1:4; Sib. Or. 1.3–4; 11.319–20; Ep. Barn. 1.7; incomplete but analogous, 2 Bar. 14:1).

26. E.g., CIJ 1:444, §621; 1:474, §661.

27. E.g., Josephus, Ant. 1.69; 18.216–17; Philo, Creation 58–59; tos. Kid. 5.17. Of relevance here, some also used the temple’s seven lampstands to symbolize the “seven planets” (Josephus, War 5.217; Ant. 3.144–45; Philo, Heir 221; Moses 2.103). Some viewed literal stars as angels (1QM 10.11–12; 1 Enoch 18:14; 2 Enoch 4:1; 3 Enoch 46:1). Michal Wojciechowski, “Seven Churches and Seven Celestial Bodies (Rev 1,16; Rev 2–3),” BibNot 45 (1988): 48–50, suggests the sun, moon, and five planets, finding specific parallels in the church letters. For astronomical data about seven celestial bodies, see Aune, Revelation, 1:97–98.

28. E.g., Homer, Il. 22.438; Euripides, Medea 1120–1230; 1 Macc. 1:44.

29. Divine messengers, e.g., Homer, Il. 4.121; 24.169; Euripides, Electra 462; PGM 1.76–77, 172; occasionally for a human messenger of the gods (Epictetus, Disc. 3.22.23).

30. E.g., Aune, Prophecy in Early Christianity, 197; cf. perhaps Josephus, Ant. 15.136. The Hebrew term for “messenger” replaces “prophet” in the latest biblical prophets (Naomi G. Cohen, “From Nabi to Mal’ak to ‘Ancient Figure,’ ” JJS 36 [1985]: 12–24).

31. Cf. Talbert, Apocalypse, 17. But this usage seems limited to rabbinic texts (cf. b. Ber. 7b), and even there the leaders of congregations probably doubled as readers only rarely (tos. Meg. 3:21). Brownlee, “Priestly Character,” 224, suggests a priestly background for the image.

32. Fréderic Manns, “L’évêque, ange de l’Église,” Ephemerides Liturgicae 104 (1990): 176–81, noting Jewish texts comparing priests with angels.

33. See documentation in Craig S. Keener, Paul, Women and Wives (Peabody, Mass.: Hendrickson, 1992), 41–42 and notes.

34. Caird, Commentary on Revelation, 24.

35. Beasley-Murray, Revelation, 69 (citing the Persian fravashis).

36. For Christian groups, see some mentioned in Walter J. Hollenweger, The Pentecostals, tr. R. A. Wilson (Peabody, Mass.: Hendrickson, 1988), 294; Gayraud S. Wilmore, Black Religion and Black Radicalism: An Interpretation of the Religious History of Afro-American People, 2d rev. ed. (Maryknoll, N.Y.: Orbis, 1983), 153–54; in addition to Nation of Islam.

37. See Frank M. Snowden Jr., Blacks in Antiquity: Ethiopians in the Greco-Roman Experience (Cambridge, Mass.: Harvard Univ. Press, 1970), 6, 264.

38. E.g., Homer, Il. 10.437; Virgil, Aen. 11.39; Ecl. 2.20; Ovid, Metam. 13.789; Babrius, 45.3; Phaedrus, 5.7.36–37; Jos. & Asen. 5:4/5; 16:18/13; 22:7. Noah is so described in 1 Enoch 106:2; 1QpGen Apoc col. 2; angels in 1 En. 71:1.

39. See Glenn J. Usry and Craig S. Keener, Black Man’s Religion (Downers Grove, Ill.: InterVarsity, 1996), 60–75; see also W. E. B. DuBois, The World and Africa (New York: International Publishers, 1965), 143.

40. John Randall, The Book of Revelation: What Does It Really Say? (Locust Valley, N.Y.: Living Flame, 1976), 45.

41. They claim it is a title merely “bestowed” by Jehovah and that the “Last” means the last one resurrected “by Jehovah personally” (Revelation: Grand Climax, 27–28), an idea for which Revelation provides no hint.

42. Cf. Ryrie, Revelation, 118.

43. Thus Aune, The New Testament in Its Literary Environment, 241, complains that even if it is a structuring device, this insight is not very illuminating. Gregory K. Beale, “The Interpretive Problem of Rev. 1:19,” NovT 34 (1992): 360–87, argues that each of the clauses apply to the entire Apocalypse.

44. Fee and Stuart, How to Read the Bible, 237.

45. For one example of racist instigation of many of the church burnings, the Southern Poverty Law Center eventually won a successful suit against a Klan group for the burning of Macedonia Baptist Church in South Carolina in 1995 (“ ‘Day of Reckoning’: Record Judgment Cripples Klan Group,” SPLC Intelligence Report [Summer 1998], 6–7).

46. See Stephen V. Monsma, “Yelling ‘Fire’ in a Crowded Art Gallery,” CT (Oct. 22, 1990), 40–41; Mark A. Kellner, “City Erects Pagan Sculpture,” CT (Sept. 12, 1994), 62–63.

47. See, e.g., the conversion of thousands of Bihals in a largely Hindu region of India, and Muslim responses to the Jesus video in Jordan and the southern Philippines (“International Year 1997: Popcorn Testimonies, Various Individuals,” Campus Crusade cassettes, 1997); on Muslim conversions, see, e.g., Stan Guthrie, “Muslim Mission Breakthrough,” CT (Dec. 13, 1993), 20–26.

1. William M. Ramsay, “Roads and Travel (in NT),” 5:375–402 in The Dictionary of the Bible, 5 vols., ed. James Hastings (New York: Charles Scribner’s Sons, 1904); S. R. Llewelyn, New Documents Illustrating Early Christianity, vol. 7 (North Ryde, N.S.W.: Ancient History Documentary Research Centre, Macquarie University, 1994), §1 (pp. 1–25). Mail could thus take a long time (Seneca, Ep. ad Lucil. 50.1; M. P. Charlesworth, Trade-Routes and Commerce of the Roman Empire, 2d rev. ed. [New York: Cooper Square, 1970], 86).

2. For edicts, see Aune, The New Testament in Its Literary Environment, 159, 242; idem, “The Form and Function of the Proclamations to the Seven Churches (Revelation 2–3),” NTS 36 (1990): 182–204; idem, Revelation, 1:126–28; Deissmann, Light From the Ancient Past, 374.

3. Cf. Mic. 1:6–16; for oracles concerning different peoples or places in the early Christian period, see Matt. 11:21–24; Sib. Or. passim (e.g., 5.447–67).

4. “This is what the Spirit says” characterized other Christian prophecies (Acts 21:11). Prophecies from Christ also appear in Odes Sol. 8:8–19; 17:6–16; 22:1–12; 28:9–20; 31:6–13; 36:3–8; 41:8–10; 42:3–20.

5. As recommended by ancient rhetoricians (Stowers, Letter Writing, 80–81).

6. William H. Shea, “The Covenantal Form of the Letters to the Seven Churches,” AUSS 21 (1983): 71–84, compares biblical covenant patterns. Most biblical prophets concluded with a message of hope (as noted also by many ancient interpreters, e.g., Pes. Rab Kah. 13:14).

7. The form was also used in messenger formulas (e.g., 2 Kings 18:19; T. Job 7:10/8), but oracles imply a divine source.

8. For details, see Kraybill, Imperial Cult and Commerce, 27–28; Steven Friesen, “Ephesus: Key to a Vision in Revelation,” BAR 19 (1993): 24–37.

9. On the Jewish community there, see CIJ 2:13–14, §§745–47; Kraabel, “Judaism,” 51–60. Some Jewish oracles anticipated judgment on Ephesus and Smyrna (Sib. Or. 3.343–44). For magic there, see Floyd V. Filson, “Ephesus and the NT,” BA 8 (Sept. 1945): 73–80 (p. 78); Clinton E. Arnold, Ephesians: Power and Magic, SNTSM 63 (Cambridge: Cambridge Univ. Press, 1989), 14–16; Paul Trebilco, “Asia,” 291–362 in The Book of Acts in Its Graeco-Roman Setting, ed. D. W. J. Gill and C. Gempf (Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 1994), 314.

10. Ignatius praises the Ephesian Christians highly, but for different works than in Revelation (Ramsay, Letters to the Seven Churches, 240–41).

11. See Michaels, Revelation, 70.

12. Many commentators apply it to love of fellow Christians (Ray Frank Robbins in George, Revelation: Three Viewpoints, 160; Beasley-Murray, Revelation, 75) or to both (Hemer, Letters to the Seven Churches, 41). Beale, Revelation, 230–31, applies it to loss of zeal for witness, but this does not appear clear in the text.

13. ”Remember” is common language in biblical (Deut. 4:10; 8:18; 16:12) and Hellenistic (see Aune, Revelation, 1:147) moral exhortation.

14. Ramsay, Letters to the Seven Churches, 243–45; somewhat differently, Hemer, Letters to the Seven Churches, 53.

15. The longer recension of Ignatius, Trall. 11 and Philad. 6 accuses Nicolaitans of loving pleasure, but these are not part of the original text.

16. Cf. similarly Fiorenza, Revelation, 195; Aune, The New Testament in Its Literary Environment, 245; Tenney, Revelation, 61; Panayotis Coutsoumpos, “The Social Implication of Idolatry in Revelation 2:14: Christ or Caesar?” BTB 27 (Spring 1997): 23–27; cf. the etymological connection with Balaam in Beale, Revelation, 251. The link with Balaam and Jezebel is, however, by no means certain (cf. W. M. Mackay, “Another Look at the Nicolaitans,” EvQ 45 [1973]: 111–15).

17. See Erwin R. Goodenough, Jewish Symbols in the Greco-Roman Period, 13 vols. (New York: Pantheon, for Bollingen Foundation, 1953–1968), 7:87–134 (esp. 134).

18. Cf. “Tree of Life,” 889–90 in Dictionary of Biblical Imagery, ed. Leland Ryken et al. (Downers Grove, Ill.: InterVarsity, 1998). The tree of life may symbolize resurrection in the Dead Sea Scrolls (Marc Philonenko, “Un arbre se courbera et se redressera [4Q 385 2 9–10],” RHPR 73 [1993]: 401–4). It probably represents eternal life in 1 Enoch 25:4–5.

19. Hemer, Letters to the Seven Churches, 44–51.

20. See Deut. 6:4; 9:1; Epictetus, Disc. 2.19.12; 3.24.68; Plutarch, Lectures 14, Mor. 45D.

21. For some further synthetic comments on “overcoming,” see also Stephen L. Homcy, “ ‘To Him Who Overcomes’: A Fresh Look at What ‘Victory’ Means for the Believer According to the Book of Revelation,” JETS 38 (June 1995): 193–201.

22. See G. R. Beasley-Murray, “The Contribution of the Book of Revelation to the Christian Belief in Immortality,” SJT 27 (1974): 76–93.

23. I have argued elsewhere that there is no adequate biblical grounds to argue for the cessation of any gifts, even if in practice we may see little evidence of some of them in our circles (3 Crucial Questions About the Holy Spirit [Grand Rapids: Baker, 1996], 81–107).

24. This could happen with a variety of ancient works where we are too far removed from the ideal reader (e.g., Phaedrus, 3.1.7); ancients also understood that they could become too far removed from texts historically to understand them fully (Aulus Gellius 20.1.6).

25. Ramsay, Letters to the Seven Churches, 432–33.

26. For application, see Osei-Mensah, God’s Message, 47–49. For some critiques of relativism today, see Joe Klein, “How About a Swift Kick?” NW (Jul. 26, 1993), 30; George Will, “A Trickle-Down Culture,” NW (Dec. 13, 1993), 84; Tim Stafford, “ ‘Favorite-Song’ Theology,” CT (Sept. 14, 1992), 36–38; Christina Hoff Sommers, “How to Teach Right and Wrong,” CT (Dec. 13, 1993), 33–37; Charles Colson, “Postmodern Power Grab,” CT (Jun. 20, 1994), 80; Peter Bocchino, “Words Without Meaning,” Just Thinking (Ravi Zacharias Ministries; Winter 1995), 4–7; articles in Worldwide Challenge (July 1997).

27. Ajith Fernando, Acts (NIV Application Commentary; Grand Rapids: Zondervan, 1998), 59, citing as introductions to postmodernism Stanley Grenz, A Primer on Postmodernism (Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 1996); J. Richard Middleton and Brian Walsh, Truth Is Stranger Than It Used to Be (Downers Grove, Ill.: InterVarsity, 1995); and Gene Edward Veith Jr., Postmodern Times (Wheaton: Crossway, 1994). For other various, mostly nuanced, responses to postmodernism, see Christian Apologetics in the Postmodern World, ed. T. R. Phillips and D. L. Okholm (Downers Grove, Ill.: InterVarsity, 1995); The Challenge of Postmodernism, ed. David S. Dockery (Wheaton: Bridgepoint, 1995).

28. For a noncharismatic critique, see, e.g., Hank Hanegraaf, Christianity in Crisis (Eugene, Ore.: Harvest House, 1993); John F. MacArthur Jr., Charismatic Chaos (Grand Rapids: Zondervan, 1992), 264–90; from a charismatic perspective, see Gordon D. Fee, “The Disease of the Health and Wealth Gospels” (Costa Mesa: Word for Today, 1979); Bruce Barron, The Health and Wealth Gospel (Downers Grove, Ill.: InterVarsity, 1987); D. R. McConnell, A Different Gospel (Peabody, Mass.: Hendrickson, 1988); Charles Hummel, The Prosperity Gospel (Downers Grove, Ill.: InterVarsity, 1991). Cf. also Larry Bishop, “Prosperity,” Cornerstone (Jesus People USA) 10 (May 1981): 12–16.

29. See in some detail McConnell, Gospel, 8–12, 21–50.

30. See Darrell L. Bock, “Arrogance Is Not a Family Value,” CT (Nov. 9, 1992), 10; Charles Colson, “Wanted: Christians Who Love,” CT (Oct. 2, 1995), 112. Many address the specific issue of homosexual behavior, e.g., Stanton L. Jones, “The Loving Opposition,” CT (Jul. 19, 1993), 18–25; Tim Stafford, “Ed Dobson Loves Homosexuals,” CT (Jul. 19, 1993), 22; Thomas Schmidt, Straight and Narrow? (Downers Grove, Ill.: InterVarsity, 1995); Mindy Michels and Jenell Williams, “ ‘Finding Common Ground’: Anti-Gay Violence and Public Discourse,” The Graduate Review (American University, 1996), 18–27.

31. For what a Calvinist and Arminian learned through their separation and reconciliation, see J. D. Walsh, “Wesley vs. Whitefield,” Christian History 38 (1993): 34–37.

32. Note that a generation ago the fighting topics were more frequently end-times views or spiritual gifts. In contrast to this is the irenic tone in many multiple views books (e.g., Darrell Bock, ed., Three Views on the Millennium; Wayne Grudem, ed., Are Miraculous Gifts for Today? Four Views [Grand Rapids: Zondervan, 1996]; Zondervan’s forthcoming four-views work on gender roles, ed. Craig Blomberg and James Beck); or the public dialogue in which Darrell Bock and I engaged on women’s roles at Dallas Seminary in March 1999.

33. See Craig Keener, “Divorce as a Justice Issue,” Prism 5 (Nov. 1998): 6–8, 20; idem, … And Marries Another (Peabody, Mass.: Hendrickson, 1991), 1–11; idem, “Some Reflections on Justice, Rape, and an Insensitive Society,” 117–30 in Women, Abuse and the Bible: How Scripture Can Be Used to Hurt or Heal, ed. C. C. Kroeger and J. R. Beck (Grand Rapids: Baker, 1996).

34. J. I. Packer, Knowing God (Downers Grove, Ill.: InterVarsity, 1973), 25.

1. With Ford, Revelation, 394. “Poverty” sometimes appears as a title of piety in the Qumran Scrolls, but its contrast with true wealth suggests here genuine affliction.

2. Tacitus, Ann. 4.55–56. For other forms of paganism there, see Giulia Sfameni Gasparro, Soteriology and Mystic Aspects in the Cult of Cybele and Attis (ÉPROER 103; Leiden: Brill, 1985), 71–72.

3. While promising peace to Asia, a Jewish mantic could threaten Smyrna’s demise (Sib. Or. 3.365–67; cf. 5.122–23, 306).

4. See Claudia J. Setzer, Jewish Responses to Early Christians: History and Polemics, 30–150 C.E. (Minneapolis: Fortress, 1994), 114. For the Jewish presence, see CIJ 2:9–12, §§739–43; New Documents Illustrating Early Christianity, vol. 3, ed. G. H. R. Horsley (North Ryde, N.S.W.: The Ancient History Documentary Research Centre, Macquarie University, 1983), 3:52, §17 (further, Goodenough, Symbols, 2:79–81; Colin J. Hemer, “Unto the Angels of the Churches,” Buried History 11 [1975]: 62). Kraybill, Imperial Cult and Commerce, 170–94, suggests that the issue in the letters was Jewish but not Christian exemptions in pagan commerce.

5. Mart. Polyc. 13.1; 17.2. For later Jewish slanders against Christians claimed by Justin, Tertullian, and Origen, see Aune, Revelation, 1:162; see further discussion in Kraabel, “Judaism in Western Asia Minor,” 32–40. For later martyrdoms in Smyrna, see James Parkes, The Conflict of the Church and the Synagogue: A Study in the Origins of Antisemitism (New York: Atheneum, 1979), 137.

6. E.g., Setzer, Responses, 101; Hemer, Letters to the Seven Churches, 67.

7. For delation in general, see W. J. O’Neal, “Delation in the Early Empire,” Classical Bulletin 55 (1978): 24–28; E. A. Judge, The Social Pattern of the Christian Groups in the First Century (London: Tyndale, 1960), 71.

8. E.g., Herodian 7.3.2. Personal or factional causes may have generated many of the accusations (cf. Gary J. Johnson, “De conspiratione delatorum: Pliny and the Christians Revisited,” Latomus 47 [1988]: 417–22).

9. See e.g., Hemer, Letters to the Seven Churches, 68.

10. Cf. Digest 48.19.29 in Aune, Revelation, 3:1166.

11. See further Hemer, Letters to the Seven Churches, 58–59, 63–64, 76. For prominence, see Dio Chrysostom, 40th Disc. 14.

12. In some early Jewish texts “second death” refers to annihilation (I. Abrahams, Studies in Pharisaism and the Gospels [2d ser.; Cambridge: Cambridge Univ. Press, 1924], 44; cf. Martin McNamara, Targum and Testament [Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 1972], 123; perhaps Gen. Rab. 96:5), but in Revelation the same phrase (20:6, 14; 21:8) refers to a resurrection to eternal torment (14:11; 20:10). The conception would be familiar even without a precise allusion to Jewish usage; one could even speak of added torment during death as a “second death” (Phaedrus, 1.21.11).

13. For battle, see, e.g., Dionysius of Halicarnassus, 6.94.1; Arrian, Alex. 7.5.4; Aulus Gellius, 5.6; for athletic competition, see Pausanius, 6.8.4; 6.14.11; Diodorus Siculus, 16.79.3; for the symbolic use, see Dio Chrysostom, 9th Isthmian Disc. 10–12; Wisd. Sol. 4:2; Josephus, Apion 2.217–18; T. Job 4:10/8; for posthumous awarding of wreaths, see Aune, Revelation, 1:168–69.

14. E.g., Apuleius, Metam. 10.12; fig., Job 19:9; Prov. 4:9; 12:4; 16:31; 17:6; Isa. 28:1–3; Ep. Arist. 280; m. Ab. 4:13; Ex. Rab. 34:2. It represents prosperity and ease in Prov. 14:24; Lam. 5:16; Sib. Or. 5.100; celebration in Jub. 16:30 (esp. at weddings, Song 3:11; Koh. Rab. 10:5, §1; Lam. Rab. 5:16, §1); later Jewish tradition applied it to the Israelites at Sinai (b. Shab. 88a; Pes. Rab Kah. 16:3; Song Rab. 4:4, §1; Lam. Rab. 2:13, §17). Cf. also discussion in Aune, Revelation, 1:172–75.

15. See Isa. 28:5; 1QS 4.7; Wisd. Sol. 5:16; 2 Bar. 15:8; Sib. Or. 2.153–54; T. Job 40:3/5; Gr. Ezra 6:17; b. Ber. 17a; Meg. 15b; Deut. Rab. 3:7; 1 Cor. 9:25; Phil. 4:1; 1 Thess. 2:19; 2 Tim. 4:8; James 1:12; 1 Peter 5:4.

16. See New Documents, 3:52, §17; Ramsay, Letters to the Seven Churches, 205; Hemer, Letters to the Seven Churches, 59–60, 72–74.

17. For applications, see González, Revelation, 27. For the history of anti-Semitism in the church (though its roots are pre-Christian), see Edward H. Flannery, The Anguish of the Jews: Twenty-Three Centuries of Anti-Semitism (New York: Macmillan, 1965); James Parkes, The Conflict of the Church and the Synagogue: A Study in the Origins of Antisemitism (New York: Atheneum, Temple Books, 1979).

18. “Racist Identity Sect Fuels Nationwide Extremist Movement,” Klanwatch Intelligence Report (Aug. 1995), 1–5 (pp. 3–4); “Mistaken Identity,” Intelligence Report (Winter 1998), 8–9; Richard Abanes, American Militias: Rebellion, Racism and Religion (Downers Grove, Ill.: InterVarsity, 1996), 162–62; Richard Kyle, The Last Days Are Here Again: A History of the End Times (Grand Rapids: Baker, 1998), 160–61; Leonard Zeskind, “Justice vs. Justus,” Intelligence Report (Spring 1988), 14–17 (p. 17).

19. Although not currently dominant, these white supremacists have sought to build “common ground” with nonracist fundamentalists who share some conservative agendas (“Racist Sect,” 5); for the reality of the danger, see Abanes, American Militias.

20. Luke Timothy Johnson, “The New Testament’s Anti-Jewish Slander and Conventions of Ancient Rhetoric,” JBL 108 (1989): 419–41; cf. Craig Keener, A Commentary on the Gospel of Matthew (Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 1999), 536.

21. Cf. Setzer, Responses, 100. Turning charges around was an accepted form of ancient conflict rhetoric (1 Kings 18:17–18; Matt. 12:24, 45; Cornelius Nepos, 7 [Alcibiades].4.6). For its social function in Christian self-definition, cf. Adela Yarbro Collins, “Vilification and Self-Definition in the Book of Revelation,” HTR 79 (1986): 308–20.

22. For one discussion of the use of this language, see Craig S. Keener, “The Function of Johannine Pneumatology in the Context of Late First Century Judaism” (Ph.D. diss.: Duke University, 1991), 330–49.

23. Cf. true and false Greeks in Diogenes, Ep. 28, to the Greeks.

24. Graham, Approaching Hoofbeats, 60–62.

25. For news reports, see “Did Muslims Plan Religious Violence?” CT (Jul. 10, 1987), 43; Sharon Mumper, “Global Report: Nigeria,” EMQ 24 (Jan. 1988): 86–87; “Riots Kill Hundreds,” CT (Jun. 24, 1991), 56; “Christian-Muslim Tensions Prompt Riots,” CT (Nov. 25, 1991), 58; “Intolerance,” World Press Review (July 1991), 38; Randy Tift, “More Bloodshed Feared in Religious Fighting,” CT (Jun. 22, 1992), 67; “The Fight for African Souls,” World Press Review (June 1992), 48.

26. Osei-Mensah, God’s Message, 25.

1. On its prosperity, see Strabo, 13.4.1–3; for the population, see the Galen citations in Aune, Revelation, 1:181.

2. Ramsay, Letters to the Seven Churches, 292–93; Hemer, Letters to the Seven Churches, 85.

3. Beale, Revelation, 250–51, cites here Num. 22:23, 31 and later Jewish tradition specifically concerning the threat to “Balaam.”

4. For Asclepius’s cult there, see Pausanius, 2.26.9; Herodian, 4.8.3. Associations with healing there appear as early as Homer, Il. 5.446–448 (Apollo). For information on Asclepius, who was particularly popular in this period and centered in this city, see Howard Clark Kee, Miracle in the Early Christian World: A Study in Sociohistorical Method (New Haven: Yale, 1983), 78–104.

5. Yamauchi, The Archaeology of New Testament Cities, 35. For the view that this might be “Satan’s throne,” see Stambaugh and Balch, Environment, 153; Beasley-Murray, Revelation, 84; a few have applied the title instead to the entire acropolis (Peter Wood, “Local Knowledge in the Letters of the Apocalypse,” ExpT 73 [1962]: 263–64).

6. See W. K. C. Guthrie, Orpheus and Greek Religion, 2d ed. (New York: W. W. Norton, 1966), 260–61; W. W. Tarn, Hellenistic Civilisation (London: E. Arnold, 1952): 354; Ramsay, Letters to the Seven Churches, 284–85; Yamauchi, The Archaeology of New Testament Cities, 31.

7. Hemer, Letters to the Seven Churches, 82–85; Ford, Revelation, 398; Fiorenza, Revelation, 193. Pergamum’s own earlier rulers were not worshiped while alive (Tarn, Civilisation, 51). Aune, Revelation, 1:182–84, applies the designation more generally to local Roman opposition to Christians.

8. Bowman, First Christian Drama, 31.

9. For archaeological evidence of a synagogue at Pergamum, see Goodenough, Symbols, 2:78–79.

10. See Donald S. Deer, “Whose Faith/Loyalty in Revelation 2.13 and 14.12?” Bible Translator 38 (1987): 328–30.

11. Also Ps-Philo 18:13. Many considered him the best pagan prophet (Josephus, Ant. 4.104; Sifre Deut. 343.6.1; 357.18.1–2), and later rabbis viewed him as the best pagan “philosopher” (Pes. Rab Kah. 15:5; Gen. Rab. 65:20; 93:10; Lam. Rab Proem 2). In general, see John T. Greene, “The Balaam Figure and Type Before, During, and After the Period of the Pseudepigrapha,” Journal for the Study of the Pseudepigrapha 8 (1991): 67–110.

12. Later rabbis regarded leading another into sin as worse than killing him (Sifre Deut. 252.1.4). They understood that this was how Balaam caused Israel trouble (p. Sanh. 10:2, §8; Taan. 4:5, §10), and some associated him with denial of judgment (Pes. Rab. 41:3).

13. For Balaam’s association with immorality, see also Josephus, Ant. 1.129–48; 4.157; Philo, Moses 1.296–97; Ps-Philo 18:13.

14. For spiritual prostitution, see Caird, Commentary on Revelation, 39, 44.

15. For a figurative use of the image, see 4QpNah 3.4; probably Wisd. 14:12.

16. Jewish tradition amplified the account of this idolatry (Josephus, Ant. 4.130, 141, 149; Philo, Moses 1.298–99).

17. For meat in the marketplace, see E. P. Sanders, Jewish Law From Jesus to the Mishnah: Five Studies (London: SCM; Philadelphia: Trinity Press International, 1990), 280; Wendell Lee Willis, Idol Meat in Corinth: The Pauline Argument in 1 Corinthians 8 and 10 (SBLDS 68; Chico, Calif.: Scholars, 1985), 63; Gerd Theissen, The Social Setting of Pauline Christianity, tr. J. H. Schütz (Philadelphia: Fortress, 1982), 124–27; Aune, Revelation, 1:191–94.

18. Such sacrificial meals in the imperial cult are probably implied in CIL 3.550 and reflect the more general pagan custom. Some scholars suggest meat from that cult here (Bowman, First Christian Drama, 31).

19. See E. A. Judge, The Social Pattern of the Christian Groups in the First Century: Some Prolegomena to the Study of New Testament Ideas of Social Obligation (London: Tyndale, 1960), 40; Ramsay MacMullen, Roman Social Relations: 50 B.C. to A.D. 284 (New Haven: Yale, 1974), 77, 82.

20. See 2 Macc. 2:4–8; 2 Bar. 6:7–9; 4 Bar. 3:10, 19; 4:4; Lives of Prophets 2:15 (Greek in §25, Jer.); m. Shek. 6:1–2; Yoma 5:2. For related Samaritan ideas, cf. Josephus, Ant. 18.85; M. F. Collins, “The Hidden Vessels in Samaritan Traditions,” JSJ 3 (1972): 97–116; Isaac Kalimi and James D. Purvis, “The Hiding of the Temple Vessels in Jewish and Samaritan Literature,” CBQ 56 (Oct. 1994): 679–85.

21. See also eschatological manna in 2 Bar. 29:8; Mek. Vayassa 3.42–45; 5.53–65; cf. Ex. Rab. 47:5; Christian tradition in Sib. Or. 7.149. For manna as angelic food, see b. Yoma 75b.

22. Ancient readers would probably recognize the contrast quickly; for an analogous contrast, see the later Num. Rab. 21:21.

23. Ramsay, Letters to the Seven Churches, 302. The majority of views recited below were proposed by or before Ramsay, prior to being developed by other scholars.

24. Stambaugh and Balch, Environment, 136. At Sardis the Kore also appears as a rock (David J. Gill, “Religion in a Local Setting,” 79–92 in The Book of Acts in Its Greco-Roman Setting [ed. D. W. J. Gill and C. Gempf; Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 1994], 88).

25. Caird, Commentary on Revelation, 42; Ford, Revelation, 399–400; Beasley-Murray, Revelation, 88; Hemer, Letters to the Seven Churches, 98–99.

26. Beasley-Murray, Revelation, 88; Ford, Revelation, 399–400; fuller documentation in Hemer, Letters to the Seven Churches, 97. But voters also sometimes wrote on potsherds (Cornelius Nepos 2 [Themistocles], 8.1; 5 [Cimon], 3.1).

27. Hemer, Letters to the Seven Churches, 101–2. That a particular white curative stone was called the “Judean stone” (Galen 9.2.5; Dioscurides, Materia Medica 5.137) is probably irrelevant; calcareous white stone characterized some regions of Asia (cf. J. B. Lightfoot, Saint Paul’s Epistles to the Colossians and to Philemon [n.p.: Macmillan & Company, 1879], 10).

28. Talbert, Apocalypse, 19; Hemer, Letters to the Seven Churches, 99–100, citing Aelius Aristides, Hymn to Ascl. 6.69. Children generally received names eight to nine days after birth (Plutarch, R.Q. 102, Mor. 288BC; Luke 1:59). Cf. figurative renaming in 1QpHab 8.9.

29. Talbert, Apocalypse, 111.

30. See Osei-Mensah, God’s Message, 28; Madame Nanan, “The Sorcerer and Pagan Practices,” 81–87 in Our Time Has Come: African Christian Women Address the Issues of Today, ed. Judy Mbugua (Grand Rapids: Baker, 1994).

31. For fan clubs surrounding entertainers, see Ned Zeman, “The Adoration of the Elvii,” NW (Apr. 22, 1991), 82–83; for troubles fame creates for celebrities, see Walter Leavy, “The Price of Fame,” Ebony (Sept. 1994), 54–59.

32. See the statistics in James F. Engel, “Who’s Really Doing Evangelism?” CT (Dec. 16, 1991), 35–37.

33. On sexual immorality, see Andrés Tapia, “Abstinence: The Radical Choice for Sex Ed,” CT (Feb. 8, 1993), 25–29; Katherine Bond, “Abstinence Education: How Parents Are Making It Happen,” Focus on the Family (Sept. 1998), 12–13; Craig Keener, “Sexual Infidelity As Exploitation,” Priscilla Papers 7 (Fall 1993): 15–18; see other sources cited in the Contemporary Significance section of 21:8.

34. Most ancient prostitutes were reduced to their situation by financial need (Terence, Lady of Andros 73–79) or, in Paul’s day, were often slaves forced into prostitution against their will (Martial, Epig. 9.6.7; 9.8; Apuleius, Metam. 7.9; ARN 8A), which (in the case of slavery) surely placed the onus of sin on those who exploited them.

35. Lest one think no one would use the Bible to justify racism today, a minister in the white supremacist “Church of the Creator,” George Loeb, urged fellow racists to kill large numbers of blacks, whom he stated were subhuman. After his arrest for murdering a black man, he received an “Award of Honor” from leaders in his movement. On George Loeb, see Morris Dees, Southern Poverty Law Center mailing (Apri. 13, 1995); “National Alliance Leader William Pierce Sued in Connection with Church of the Creator Case,” Klanwatch Intelligence Report (March 1995), 9.

36. See Charles Marsh, God’s Long Summer: Stories of Faith and Civil Rights (Princeton: Princeton Univ. Press, 1997), 131.

1. Hemer, Letters to the Seven Churches, 86–87; Fiorenza, Revelation, 193; Caird, Commentary on Revelation, 43. For Thyatira’s Macedonian links, see Strabo, 13.4.4.

2. See Hemer, Letters to the Seven Churches, 111–17, including comments on the rare Greek terms most specifically intelligible there; cf. Caird, Commentary on Revelation, 43.

3. Their location at the “most important junction of roads between Lydia and Mysia” (Aune, Revelation, 1:213) may have also helped position them in commerce.

4. See Kraybill, Imperial Cult and Commerce, 110–23; Beasley-Murray, Revelation, 89–90; Collins, Crisis and Catharsis, 88; Talbert, Apocalypse, 20; Beale, Revelation, 261. On the appeal and dangers of commerce for Judaism and the churches, see especially and most thoroughly Kraybill, Imperial Cult and Commerce, 87–99, 184–93.

5. See Bauckham, Climax of Prophecy, 377–78; C. S. Keener, “Woman and Man,” 1205–15 in Dictionary of the Later New Testament and Its Developments, ed. R. P. Martin and P. H. Davids (Downers Grove, Ill.: InterVarsity, 1997), 1211.

6. See Eusebius, H. E. 5.17.3–4. For Ammia see Catherine Kroeger, “The Neglected History of Women in the Early Church,” Christian History 17 (1988): 6–11 (p. 7).

7. For women in the Asian imperial cult, see Mary R. Lefkowitz and Maureen B. Fant, Women’s Life in Greece and Rome (Baltimore: Johns Hopkins Univ. Press, 1982), 157 (§159); in the trade guilds, see Hemer, Letters to the Seven Churches, 121. Thyatira later succumbed heavily to Montanism, in which prophetesses played a significant initial role.

8. E.g., Ovid, Metam. 14.129–53. On Jewish Sibyllism, see especially John J. Collins, The Sibylline Oracles of Egyptian Judaism, SBLDS 13 (Missoula: SBL, 1972); for the Jewish Sibyl see Sib. Or. 1.287–90; 3.827; CPJ 3:47–51; among Christians, see Herm. 1.2.4; Theophilus, 2.36; a reading of Tertullian, Apol. 19.1.

9. Hemer, Letters to the Seven Churches, 119; Ford, Revelation, 405; but contrast Ramsay, Letters to the Seven Churches, 337; Moffatt, “Revelation,” 360. On the Jewish population in Lydia, esp. Thyatira (though this letter lacks direct reference to them), see CIJ 2:17–18, §752; Kraabel, “Judaism in Western Asia Minor,” 155–97; for God-fearers, see Acts 16:14. There is also some evidence for Jewish metalworkers in first-century Asia (S. Applebaum, “The Social and Economic Status of the Jews in the Diaspora,” 701–27 in Jews in Palestine in the First Century, 717–18).

10. Some Jewish tradition emphasized divine judgment on offspring of adultery (Wisd. Sol. 3:13, 16; cf. 2 Sam 12:14) or other children of wicked parents (Jub. 5:7; T. Jud. 11:3–5), but Rev. 2:23 employs the image figuratively as an insult (cf. Isa. 57:3, 8); her children perpetuate her spirit of prostitution (cf. Rev. 17:5; also John 8:41). For sickness as judgment, see 1 Cor. 11:30; T. Reuben 1:7–8; T. Zeb. 5:2, 4.

11. See Matthew Black, “Some Greek Words with Hebrew Meanings in the Epistles and the Apocalypse,” 135–46 in Biblical Studies: Essays in Honor of William Barclay, ed. J. R. McKay and J. F. Miller (Philadelphia: Westminster, 1976), 136. NIV’s “repay” here accurately renders the Semitic nuance of the Greek (Black, “Greek Words,” 145).

12. For God as “searcher of hearts and minds,” see 1 Chron. 28:9; Rom. 8:27; Heb. 4:13; tos. Sanh. 8:3; Epictetus, Disc. 2.14.11; A. Marmorstein, The Old Rabbinic Doctrine of God: The Names and Attributes of God (New York: KTAV, 1968), 73.

13. Bathos (“deep”) can mean “profound” in Greek (e.g., Longinus, Sublime 2.1; Philo, Posterity of Cain 130), and sources ranging from mystery cults to Qumran emphasized mysteries revealed to a special group.

14. Even a child with a “rod” could drive a flock of sheep (Epictetus, Disc. 1.16.5); ancient texts also portray God or deities investing faithful agents with their scepter or crown (ibid., 4.8.30; Ex. Rab. 8:1; cf. 26:2); for the Messiah, see Ps. Sol. 18:7.

15. Some identified morning and evening stars (Diogenes Laertius, 8.1.14), but a “star” in general could symbolize conquest (Sophocles, Electra 66); it probably functions eschatologically in 2 Peter 1:19.

16. On this point see Beasley-Murray, Revelation, 93–94, for further detail. This background would present Christ (22:16) as the true world ruler (Beale, Revelation, 269).

17. Early second-century rabbis wrongly applied Num. 22:16 to the messianic pretender Bar Kochba. Ps. 2:9 and Num. 24:17 in Rev. 2:26–28 represent two of the book’s four messianic passages that use the word “scepter”: Rev. 22:16 links Num. 24:17 with Isa. 11:10; Rev. 5:5 links Gen. 49:9 and Isa. 11:10; and Rev. 19:15 links Ps. 2:9 with Isa. 11:4. Bauckham, Climax of Prophecy, 323, cites associations in Ps. Sol. 17:24–27; 4QPBless. Michael S. Moore, “Jesus Christ: ‘Superstar’ (Revelation xxii 16b),” NovT 24 (1982): 82–91, suggests some Mesopotamian background for the morning star image.

18. Metzger, Breaking the Code, 37.

19. Ramsay, Letters to the Seven Churches, 333, points out that Thyatira was one of the least significant of the cities, hence reinforcing the irony of this promise of future rule.

20. Ronald J. Sider, Rich Christians in an Age of Hunger, 3d ed. (Dallas: Word, 1990), 143–44.

21. For fuller examples, see how caring for the needy and prisoners could alienate Dave Chapman’s clients (Charles Colson, Loving God [Grand Rapids: Zondervan, 1987], 217–44), and Judge Bill Bontrager lost his job by obeying what he believed God demanded (ibid., 147–64).

22. Martin Persson Nilsson, Greek Piety, tr. H. J. Rose (Oxford: Clarendon, 1948), 185.

23. For example, genetic classes (race or gender) should not be interchanged with immoral behavior (such as homosexual behavior—or, for that matter, mistreatment of gays and lesbians), though they are often grouped together (e.g., the artists reported in Peter Plagens, “Fade From White,” NW [Marc. 15, 1993], 72–74); see Jo Kadlecek, “Blacks, Latinos, Native Americans, Asians—and Gays?” Urban Family (Spring 1993), 34; David Neff, “Two Men Don’t Make a Right,” CT (Jun. 19, 1993), 14–15; Matthew James Jr., “Who’s Leading the Choir?” Urban Family (Fall 1995), 18–19. Relativism has been used to justify or deny the reality of even the Nazi holocaust (cf. Laura Shapiro, “Denying the Holocaust,” NW [Dec. 20, 1993], 120).

24. George Barna, What Americans Believe (Ventura, Calif.: Regal, 1991), 83–85.

25. Michaels, Revelation, 78.

26. González, Revelation, 31. By “tolerance” here we mean not the biblical virtue of loving those who disagree with us but the intellectual paralysis that comes from fear to disagree.

27. James Davison Hunter, Evangelicalism: The Coming Generation (Chicago: Univ. of Chicago Press, 1987), 34–35. Roughly half of self-identified born-again Christians believe that Christians and Buddhists share the same God (Barna, What Americans Believe, 212; the question can be interpreted in more than one way, however).

28. For a fuller argument, see “Why Does It Matter?” the closing chapter in Keener and Usry, Defending Black Faith, 108–35. For one excellent and balanced presentation, see Ajith Fernando, The Christian’s Attitude Toward World Religions (Wheaton, Ill.: Tyndale House, 1987). For various views, see the essays in William V. Crockett and James G. Sigountos, Through No Fault of Their Own? The Fate of Those Who Have Never Heard (Grand Rapids: Baker, 1991); Dennis Okholm and Timothy Phillips, More Than One Way? Four Views on Salvation in a Pluralistic World (Grand Rapids: Zondervan, 1995).

29. See I. Howard Marshall, Kept by the Power of God: A Study in Perseverance and Falling Away (Minneapolis: Bethany Fellowship, 1974); from an Arminian perspective, Robert Shank, Life in the Son: A Study of the Doctrine of Perseverance, 2d ed. (Springfield, Mo.: Westcott, 1961).

1. Cf. similar exhortations in Rom. 13:11; 1 Thess. 5:6; among moralists and seers, see Seneca Ep. Lucil. 20.13; Marcus Aurelius, 6.31; 1 Enoch 82:3.

2. See Caird, Commentary on Revelation, 47; on Demeter and Kore, see Hanfmann, Sardis, 147. Some excavators believe they have found an imperial temple as well (C. Ratté, T. N. Howe and C. Foss, “An Early Imperial Pseudodipteral Temple at Sardis,” American Journal of Archaeology 90 [1986]: 45–68).

3. Iconography in Sardis’s synagogue suggests they were at home with Gentile culture; see Eric Meyers and A. Thomas Kraabel, “Archaeology, Iconography, and Nonliterary Written Remains,” 175–210 in Early Judaism and Its Modern Interpreters, ed. R. A. Kraft and G. W. E. Nickelsburg, SBLBMI 2 (Atlanta: Scholars, 1986), 192.

4. See Josephus, Ant. 14.235, 259–61; CIJ, 2:16, §§750–51; Kraabel, “Judaism in Western Asia Minor,” 198–240.

5. See David Gordon Mitten, “A New Look at Ancient Sardis,” BA 24 (May 1966): 38–68 (esp. 65); George M. A. Hanfmann, “The Tenth Campaign at Sardis,” BASOR 191 (Oct. 1968): 2–41; Marianne Palmer Bonz, “Differing Approaches to Religious Benefaction: The Late Third-Century Acquisition of the Sardis Synagogue,” HTR 86 (April 1993): 139–54. Helga Botermann, “Die Synagoge von Sardes: Eine Synagoge aus dem 4. Jahrhundert?” ZNW 81 (1990): 103–21, dates the evidence later.

6. Pilch, “Lying,” 132, suggests the Christians had accommodated themselves to the synagogue establishment to avoid conflict. For Christianity in Sardis in a later period, see George M. A. Hanfmann and Hans Buchwald, “Christianity: Churches and Cemeteries,” 191–210 in Sardis, ed. Hanfmann.

7. See Hemer, Letters to the Seven Churches, 138–40; Ramsay, Letters to the Seven Churches, 363–65, on Demeter and Persephone.

8. Peter Wood, “Local Knowledge in the Letters of the Apocalypse,” ExpTim 73 (1962): 263–64.

9. Strabo, 12.8.18; Tacitus, Ann. 2.47.

10. Mitten, “Look,” 61–62; cf. Ramsay, Letters to the Seven Churches, 375. Sib. Or. 5.289 targets Sardis, among other Asian cities, for judgment by earthquake, but this probably reflects historical events.

11. See Herodotus, 1.26–28; Strabo, 13.4.5; Colin J. Hemer, “The Sardis Letter and the Croesus Tradition,” NTS 19 (Oct. 1972): 94–97. It was long known for its red dye (Aristophes, Acharnians 112). Gold dust was often found in rivers (Strabo, 15.1.69), but the supply in the nearby Pactolus had given out (Strabo, 13.4.5); nevertheless, Sardis remained relatively wealthy in the first century (Philostratus, V.A. 1.11).

12. Michaels, Revelation, 82.

13. See more fully, Richard Bauckham, “Synoptic Parousia Parables Again,” NTS 29 (1983): 129–34.

14. See Caird, Commentary on Revelation, 47; Richard, Apocalypse, 59. For conquests of Sardis, see Herodotus, 1.47–91; 7.11; cf. Cornelius Nepos 1 (Miltiades), 4.1. Cyrus’s unexpected conquest of Sardis became a source for moral lessons mined by later writers (see Aune, Revelation, 1:220).

15. See Josephus, War 2.1; Ant. 11.327; Philo, Cont. 66; Euripides, Bacch. 112; Pausanius, 2.35.5; 6.20.3; Diogenes Laertius, 8.1.33; for priests, see Josephus, War 5.229; Pes. Rab. 33:10; Appian, C.W. 4.6.47; Plutarch, Isis 3–4, Mor. 352C; Apulius, Metam. 11.10, 23. Cf. Ramsay, Letters to the Seven Churches, 386–87; Hemer, Letters to the Seven Churches, 146–47, though they prefer the image of a Roman triumph here.

16. See further 1 Enoch 10:8; 47:3; 104:1; Jub. 30:18–23; 36:10; 1QM 12.1–2; Hermas 1.1.1; Jean Daniélou, The Theology of Jewish Christianity (London: Darton, Longman & Todd, 1964), 192–204; perhaps Isa. 4:3; also the curse against the schismatics in the Eighteen Benedictions. See esp. sinners’ names being erased from the heavenly books in 1 Enoch 108:3.

17. Hemer, Letters to the Seven Churches, 148; Ramsay, Letters to the Seven Churches, 385; Aune, Revelation, 1:225.

18. Richard V. Pierard, “Radical Resistance,” Christian History 32 (1991): 30–33 (p. 31).

19. See Geffrey B. Kelly, “The Life and Death of a Modern Martyr,” Christian History 32 (1991): 8–17 (pp. 13–14). Despite state pressures, however, the Confessing Church did eventually officially condemn the state’s murder of the mentally ill and non-Aryans (Pierard, “Resistance,” 32).

20. Gary Haugen, Good News About Injustice: A Witness of Courage in a Hurting World (Downers Grove, Ill.: InterVarsity, 1999), 91.

21. Charles Colson, Loving God (Grand Rapids: Zondervan, 1987), 81–92.

22. Ibid., 92.

23. Ibid., 94.

1. One who held the keys of gates, royal treasuries, etc., wielded considerable authority; see also 9:1; 20:1; and esp. comment on 1:18. See Livy, 24.23.1; 24.37.8; Boaz Cohen, Jewish and Roman Law: A Comparative Study, 2 vols. (New York: Jewish Theological Seminary of America, 1966), 538–39. Because most doors had just one key, its bearer had significant authority (E. F. F. Bishop, Apostles of Palestine: The Local Background to the New Testament Church [London: Lutterworth, 1958], 232).

2. On Philadelphian Judaism, see CIJ 2:18–19, §754; Ignatius, Philad. 6.1; Kraabel, “Judaism in Western Asia Minor,” 181–90.

3. Cf. Beasley-Murray, Revelation, 100; Mounce, Revelation, 116–17; against Caird, Commentary on Revelation, 51–53, who envisions opportunities for evangelism here (the typical Pauline sense: 1 Cor. 16:9; 2 Cor. 2:12; Col. 4:3). “Opening” a “door” was a frequent figurative expression in Greek (e.g., Plutarch, Reply to Colotes 3, Mor. 1108D); cf. also God’s “door of hope” for a fearful heart (1QM 11.9).

4. Cf. Michaels, Revelation, 84. Cf. gates of heaven (Jub. 27:25); God’s opening gates of salvation (1QM 18.7) or heavenly portals (4:1; 1 Enoch 14:15; 3 Macc. 6:18; T. Levi 2:6).

5. Fekkes, Isaiah and Prophetic Tradition, 134–35, emphasizes the link between God’s oppressed community in Isaiah and that in Revelation.

6. Besides Old Testament references, cf. similar expressions for keeping commandments in Jub. 2:28; 20:2; 1QS 5.9; 8.3; CD 6.18; 10.14, 16, 17, 20; 1 Macc. 2:53; Sib. Or. 1.52–53, 170. For God’s keeping those who “keep” his Word, see Midr. Ps. 17.8.

7. For “earth-” and “heaven-dwellers,” cf. also Nah. 1:5; Luke 21:35; 1 Enoch 40:6–7; 54:6; 65:12; 80:7; 104:6; 4QpNah prologue 9; Wisd. Sol. 9:18; 4 Ezra 5:6; 7:72; 13:30–31; 2 Bar. 25:3; 27:15; T. Abr. 3 A; T. Job 36:3–6. “Heaven-dwellers” can refer to deities in pagan texts (Frederick C. Grant, Hellenistic Religions [Indianapolis: Bobbs-Merrill, 1953], 136; Cicero, De Legibus 2.8.19).

8. Cf. here Guthrie, Relevance, 97.

9. On people as strong “pillars,” see also 2 Bar. 2:1; 4 Bar. 1:2; ARN 25A; certain manuscripts of Jos. and Asen. 17:6; the patriarchs in Gen. Rab. 43:8; 75:5; cf. Greek sources in Aune, Revelation, 1:241. Beale, Revelation, 295, compares some Greek versions of Isa. 22:23. For eschatological pillars, cf. Sib. Or. 2.240 (though possibly part of a Christian interpolation). The old temple’s pillars may contrast with the pagan use of pillars (e.g., Ex. 23:24; 34:13; Deut. 7:5; 12:3; 1 Kings 14:23; 2 Kings 10:26; 17:10; 18:4; 23:14; 2 Chron. 31:1; Hos. 10:1–2; Mic. 5:13; Homer, Il. 17.434; Od. 12.14; Cornelius Nepos, 7 [Alcibiades], 3.2). Association with the “royal pillar” of Solomon’s temple (Richard H. Wilkinson, “The STULOS of Revelation 3:12 and Ancient Coronation Rites,” JBL 107 [1988]: 498–501) may thus be too narrow. But one cannot press “in the temple” to exclude Solomon’s external pillars (so Aune, Revelation, 1:241), which were part of the temple complex.

10. E.g., Diogenes Laertius, 7.1.11–12; Josephus, Ant. 16.165; cf. 2 Sam. 18:18; 1 Macc. 14:27; also curse inscriptions (Cornelius Nepos, 7 [Alcibiades], 6.5) and laws (Lysias, Murder of Eratosthenes 30). The synagogue pillars at Capernaum contain names (M. Avi-Yonah, “Archaeological Sources,” 46–62 in JPFC, 53). For figurative use of this image, see Philo, Abraham 4.

11. For inscriptions on Israel’s eschatological standards, see Michael Avi-Yonah, “The ‘War of the Sons of Light and the Sons of Darkness’ and Maccabean Warfare,” IEJ 2 (1952): 1–5 (p. 3); Yigael Yadin, The Scroll of the War of the Sons of Light Against the Sons of Darkness (Oxford: Oxford Univ. Press, 1962), 61–64 (though cf. K. M. T. Atkinson, “The Historical Setting of the ‘War of the Sons of Light and the Sons of Darkness,’ ” BJRL 40 [1957–1958]: 272–97 [p. 291]).

12. Mounce, Revelation, 121, is skeptical that Philadelphia’s new names (Neocaesarea and Flavia) are relevant to the verse.

13. E.g., Jeffrey L. Townsend, “The Rapture in Revelation 3:10,” BibSac 137 (1980): 252–66; Lindsey, New World Coming, 77; more cautiously, Walvoord, Revelation, 87. For those readers unfamiliar with the doctrine, it appears to have originated in 1830 as a corollary of John Nelson Darby’s original form of dispensationalism, which contended that God would not deal with both Israel and the church simultaneously (see summaries in J. Barton Payne, The Imminent Appearing of Christ [Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 1962], 11–42; Robert H. Gundry, The Church and the Tribulation (Grand Rapids: Zondervan, 1973), 172–88; Arthur Katterjohn with Mark Fackler, The Tribulation People (Carol Stream, Ill.: Creation House), 104–115; Timothy Weber, “The Dispensationalist Era,” Christian History 61 (1999): 34–37 (esp. 35). Walvoord, The Rapture Question (Grand Rapids: Zondervan, 1972), 52–56, responds by appealing to progressive revelation in church history. The earliest postapostolic interpreters appear to have been posttribulational (e.g., Herm. 1.2.2; 1.4.2–3; Irenaeus, 5.28.4; 5.29.1; 5.35.1).

14. So Ryrie, Revelation, 29–30.

15. For grammatical arguments favoring a pretribulational rapture here, see Thomas R. Edgar, “R. H. Gundry and Revelation 3:10,” GTJ 3 (1982): 19–49; David G. Winfrey, “The Great Tribulation: Kept ‘Out of’ or ‘Through’?” GTJ 3 (1982): 3–18; J. F. Strombeck, First the Rapture (Eugene, Ore.: Harvest House, 1982), 172–75; for some posttribulational arguments, see Gundry, The Church and the Tribulation, 55–60; Payne, Imminent Appearing, 78; Mounce, Revelation, 119; Beale, Revelation, 290–92.

16. Some examples can be counted either way, depending on one’s interpretation of the context (11:13; 18:10, 17, 19); most of Jesus’ warnings in the context do, however, involve the hour of his return, whether fig. or lit. (2:5, 16; 3:11). For the testing time as the final day of judgment, see 2 Enoch 50:5–6, rec. A; Lucan, C.W. 1.73; for the Tribulation here, see Schuyler Brown, “ ‘The Hour of Trial’ (Rev 3:10),” JBL 85 (Sept. 1966): 308–14; Rissi, Time and History, 28–29; Bauckham, Climax of Prophecy, 83.

17. With most commentators, e.g., Brown, “Hour,” 310; Tenney, Revelation, 65; Beasley-Murray, Revelation, 101. For “keep” as “protect,” cf. 1 Enoch 100:5; 1QM 14.10.

18. Michaels, Interpreting Revelation, 140.

19. See similar comments by Ellul, Apocalypse, 138.

20. This persecution can become even more dramatic in some contexts, e.g., a Hindu convert in Nepal may face death threats from his own family (Barbara Thompson, “Nepal’s Book of Acts,” CT [Nov. 9, 1992], 14–18 [p. 16]).

21. For an excellent perspective on our hope “as the ultimate form of deferred gratification,” see Philip Yancey, “Why Not Now?” CT (Feb. 5, 1996), 112. But endurance for deferred gratification demands faith that the promiser has spoken the truth.

1. Yamauchi, The Archaeology of New Testament Cities, 143–44; J. B. Lightfoot, Saint Paul’s Epistles to the Colossians and to Philemon (Grand Rapids: Zondervan, 1959; reprint of 1879 ed.), 8–9.

2. Kraabel, “Judaism in Western Asia Minor,” 82–86, 146; cf. Craig A. Evans, “The Colossian Mystics,” Biblica 63 (1982): 188–205; F. F. Bruce, “Colossian Problems. Part 1: Jews and Christians in the Lycus Valley,” BibSac 141 (1984): 3–15.

3. Eric M. Meyers and A. Thomas Kraabel, “Archaeology, Iconography, and Nonliterary Written Remains,” 175–210 in Early Judaism and Its Modern Interpreters, ed. R. A. Kraft and G. W. E. Nickelsburg, SBLBMI 2 (Atlanta: Scholars, 1986), 191.

4. Some commentators suggest a parallel with oath formulas (cf. Jesus’ familiar, “Truly [lit., “Amen”] I say to you”); hence Fekkes, Isaiah, 137–39, suggests possible background in Isa. 65:16, which would fit the comment about “creation” in 3:14 (Isa. 65:17; see further Beale, Revelation, 298–300).

5. See Strabo, 13.4.14.

6. See Sherman E. Johnson, “Laodicea and Its Neighbors,” BA 13 (Feb. 1950): 1–18 (p. 10); Beasley-Murray, Revelation, 105.

7. Ramsay, Letters to the Seven Churches, 415; Johnson, “Laodicea,” 10. Ancient engineers were more skillful than we might think. To reduce the likelihood of pipes bursting, Roman engineers often tunneled through hills and spanned valleys with high arcades, so the water could flow at a relatively uniform speed even over a distance of up to fifty miles (M. Cary and T. J. Haarhoff, Life and Thought in the Greek and Roman World, 4th ed. [London: Methuen & Company, 1946], 105–6).

8. Cf. M. J. S. Rudwick and E. M. B. Green, “The Laodicean Lukewarmness,” ExpTim 69 (March 1958): 176–78; Hemer, Letters to the Seven Churches, 188–91 (on the quality, not temperature, of the water); Stanley E. Porter, “Why the Laodiceans Received Lukewarm Water (Revelation 3:15–18),” TynBul 38 (1987): 143–49; cf. Aune, Revelation, 1:258.

9. Ancients sought to mix the appropriate amounts of hot and cold water when washing one’s feet (Homer, Od. 19.386–89). Ancients often heated water for baths (Apollonius Rhodius, 3.272–73; Petronius, Sat. 72; tos. Shab. 3:3–4), though too much hot water was dangerous (Diodorus Siculus, 4.78.2); accidentally adding too much hot water in a bath house, hence scalding a patron, could invite a lawsuit (P. Enteuxis 82). Romans typically heated baths by furnaces and subterranean ducts. Water in hot baths was less likely to incur uncleanness (p. Ter. 8:5); but some today think excessively hot water lowered male fertility (A. M. Devine, “The Low Birth-Rate in Ancient Rome: A Possible Contributing Factor,” Rheinisches Museum für Philologie 128 [3–4, 1985]: 313–317).

10. On the usefulness of cold water for drinking, see Achilles Tatius, 4.18.4; Diogenes Laertius, 6.9.104; of hot water mixed with wine, Martial, Epig. 1.11.3; on the inappropriateness of hot drinks at times, see Dio Cassius, 57.14.10; 59.11.6; 60.6.7; on the disgusting character of lukewarm water, Seneca, Dial. 4.25.1.

11. Ahîquar 148, saying 59; more explicitly, Armenian Ahîquar 2:8.

12. For analogous critiques of self-sufficiency, see Luke 12:19; Epictetus, Disc. 3.7.29. For the Stoic motif of lacking possessions that frees one to possess what matters, see in some detail Victor Paul Furnish, II Corinthians, AB 32A (Garden City, N.Y.: Doubleday, 1984), 348.

13. Various commentators cite Cicero, Ep. Fam. 3.5; ad Att. 5.15; see further Hemer, Letters to the Seven Churches, 191–92. Nearby Hierapolis was also wealthy (Sib. Or. 5.318).

14. Yamauchi, The Archaeology of New Testament Cities, 142–43.

15. See Lightfoot, Colossians, 6–7.

16. Herodian, 3.3.3; 3.6.9.

17. See Tacitus, Ann. 14.27. An earlier generation had accepted imperial help (Strabo, 12.8.18). For Laodicea’s destruction and rebuilding, see Sib. Or. 4.107–8; cf. other prophecies of judgment in Sib. Or. 5.289–91 (by earthquake); 7.22 (probably Christian material).

18. See Strabo, 12.8.16; Vitruvius, 8.3.14; see Ramsay, Letters to the Seven Churches, 429.

19. See Galen, De san. tuenda 6.4.39; Strabo, 12.8.20; see the appropriately cautious approval in Hemer, Letters to the Seven Churches, 196–99; Horsley, ed., New Documents, 3:56, §17; Aune, Revelation, 1:260. Eye salve was useful when used properly (Epictetus, Disc. 2.21.20; 3.21.21), but the wrong ointment applied to the eyes could actually produce blindness (Diodorus Siculus, 22.1.2; Dionysius of Halicarnasus, 20.5.2–3; Appian, R.H. 3.9.2).

20. Deities could employ eye medicine (Epidauros inscr. 4, 9), and Jewish sources report miraculous eye salve (Tob. 6:8; 11:11–13), resembling some ancient medicinal custom (Bernd Kollmann, “Göttliche Offenbarung magisch-pharmakologischer Heilkunst im Buch Tobit,” ZAW 106 [1994]: 289–99). Some Jewish sages used medicines as a symbol for God’s law (Sifre Deut. 45.1.1–2; Lev. Rab. 12:3; Deut. Rab. 8:4); for Jewish eye salves in general, cf. P. R. Berger, “Kollyrium für die blinden Augen, Apk. 3:18,” NovT 27 (April 1985): 174–95; in addition, b. Shab. 108b; Lam. Rab. 4:15, §18.

21. Yamauchi, The Archaeology of New Testament Cities, 145; for Hierapolis, see Lightfoot, Colossians, 11–12; for its healing springs, Strabo, 13.4.14.

22. Sophocles, Oed. Tyr. 454–55.

23. See Beale, Revelation, 304; for extrabiblical parallels, particularly the Stoic emphasis on the true wealth of the wise, see Aune, Revelation, 1:258–59. Nakedness is elsewhere used figuratively (4QpNah 2.8–3.1).

24. The idea of God “disciplining” the righteous or his children appears frequently in early Jewish texts (Ps. Sol. 3:4; 8:26; 10:1–3; 13:9–10; 14:1–2; 18:4; Wisd. Sol. 3:5; 12:22; 2 Macc. 7:32–35; Sifre Deut. 32.5.6–7).

25. It is thus unclear whether this saying refers back to the parable of the doorkeeper (Matt. 24:42; Mark 13:33–37; Luke 12:37b; James 5:9), as Joachim Jeremias (The Parables of Jesus, 2d rev. ed. [New York: Scribner’s, 1972], 55) thinks. Others find an allusion to Song 5:2, especially as understood in Jewish tradition (André Feuillet, “Le Cantique des Cantiques et L’apocalypse. Étude de deux réminiscences du Cantique dans l’Apocalypse johannique,” RSR 49 [1961]: 321–53; Enric Cortès, “Una interpretación judía de Cant 5,2 en Ap 3,19b–20,” Revista Catalana de Teologia 4 [1979]: 239–58); this would fit the bridegroom’s invitation to his banquet (Rev. 19:9; cf. Luke 12:36–37). A connection with Jesus’ eating with sinners (see Tim Wiarda, “Revelation 3:20: Imagery and Literary Context,” JETS 38 [June 1995]: 203–12) is possible. For knocking, see Callimachus, Hymn 2.1–8.

26. Cf. the more generic wisdom saying in Sir. 40:3. If Rev. 3:21 at all reflects Jesus’ saying in Matt. 19:28 and Luke 22:30 (Roloff, Revelation, 65), it democratizes a saying to the Twelve.

27. E.g., Revelation: Grand Climax, 66, though with little comment. See also the earlier Arian position held by some of the Eastern clergy in Robert Payne, “A Hammer Struck at Heresy,” Christian History 51 (1996): 11–19 (p. 17).

28. A. W. Tozer, The Knowledge of the Holy (New York: Harper and Row, 1961), 32.

29. According to some popular teachers today, Christians are Christ (Kenneth Hagin, Authority of the Believer, 11–12; “Understanding Confession,” 25–27; Zoe: The God-Kind of Life [1981], 41; The Name of Jesus, 105–6); humanity belongs to God’s class of being (Hagin, Zoe, 36; Kenneth Copeland, “The Decision Is Yours” [1978], 6) and “was never made to be a slave…. He was created on terms of equality with God, and he could stand in God’s presence without any consciousness of inferiority” (Zoe, 35).

30. Aune, Revelation, 1:262, who argues that the image in 3:21 may be that of the bisellium, or double-throne, known in antiquity.

31. E.g., Walvoord, Revelation, 91–92; Richard, Apocalypse, 62; cf. Meeks, Moral World, 147. By contrast, Aune, Revelation, 1:257, suggests “hot” as bad (Prov. 15:18), “cool” as good (Prov. 17:27, NRSV), which at least does not read modern figures of speech into Revelation.

32. Spitting out may even imply, as John Piper suggests (Desiring God: Meditations of a Christian Hedonist [Portland, Ore.: Multnomah, 1986], 261), that “eternity is at stake” when we lose our desire for God.

33. On this intimacy in prayer, see Richard J. Foster, Prayer: Finding the Heart’s True Home (New York: HarperCollins, 1992), 1. For discussion of hearing God’s voice, see from somewhat different (but not contradictory) angles, Jack Deere, Surprised by the Voice of God (Grand Rapids: Zondervan, 1996); and Craig S. Keener, 3 Crucial Questions About the Holy Spirit (Grand Rapids: Baker, 1996), 131–80.

34. A secondary application to evangelism is not necessarily wrong if made along the lines of applying the principle of how Jesus approaches people (Wiarda, “Revelation 3:20,” 212); cf. Paul’s application of evangelistic language to unrepentant Christians in 2 Cor. 5:20–6:2.

35. So also some other observers, e.g., Karen M. Feaver, “Chinese Lessons,” CT (Ma. 16, 1994), 33–34; J. I. Packer, Knowing God (Downers Grove, Ill.: InterVarsity, 1973), 174, on some Western churches, and adding that we must repent “before judgment falls” (175).

36. World Vision News (Summer 1998), 5.

37. Tony Campolo, Wake Up America! (Grand Rapids: Zondervan, 1991), xii.

38. Ibid., 96.

39. Jim Bakker with Ken Abraham, I Was Wrong (Nashville: Thomas Nelson, 1996), 531–44. The profound lessons available in Bakker’s candid and repentant revelations in that chapter are worth the price of the book.

40. John Fischer, “When Christianity Pays,” Contemporary Christian Magazine 8 (Dec. 1985): 46.

41. Nathan O. Hatch and Michael S. Hamilton, “Can Evangelicalism Survive Its Success?” CT (Oct. 5, 1992), 20–31 (p. 31). For Wesley’s views on Christians’ resources, see Theodore W. Jennings Jr., Good News to the Poor: John Wesley’s Evangelical Economics (Nashville: Abingdon, 1990); on living simply in general, see Frank Martin, “Lighten Your Load,” Discipleship Journal 78 (Nov. 1993): 28–31.

42. Martin Luther King, Jr., “Letter from the Birmingham City Jail” (Apri. 16, 1963 [p. 12 in my edition]).

43. Tim Stafford, “The Abolitionists,” Christian History 33 (1992): 21–25 (pp. 24–25).

44. General letter from G. Edward Nelson, Secretary of U.S. Relations, Assemblies of God Division of Foreign Missions (Feb. 1986), 1.

45. Michael Maudlin, “God’s Smuggler Confesses,” CT (Dec. 11, 1995), 45–46, in which Brother Andrew argues that pretribulationalism is wishful thinking and must be confronted.

46. Walter Klaasen, ed., Anabaptism in Outline: Selected Primary Sources (Scottsdale, Pa.: Herald, 1981), 317–21. For Christian suffering during the Tribulation in the church fathers, see Hermas 1.4.2–3; Irenaeus, Her. 5.28.4; 5.29.1; 5.35.1; Clementine, Homilies 2.17; Ambrose, Comm. Luke 10; cf. Did. 10.

47. See comments on terrorism under 6:4.

1. Corsini, Apocalypse, 120–21, reads Rev. 4:1–8:1 as an allegory of salvation history beginning with the fall; André Feuillet, Johannine Studies, tr. Thomas E. Crane (Staten Island, N.Y.: Alba House, 1964), 256, suggests that Rev. 4–11 explains the Synoptic Apocalypse, starting with A.D. 70.

2. I see Ezek. 1 as a primary source here, but cf. G. K. Beale, “The Use of Daniel in the Synoptic Eschatological Discourse and in the Book of Revelation,” 130–37 in The Jesus Tradition Outside the Gospels, ed. D. Wenham (Sheffield: JSOT, 1984), 134, who argues for the priority of Dan. 7. In any case Merkabah texts harmonize elements from all three sources (P. Alexander, “Introduction” to 3 Enoch, OTP, 1:247).

3. E.g., D. Dimant and J. Strugnell, “The Merkabah Vision in Second Ezekiel (4Q385 4),” RevQ 14 (1990): 331–48; see further Aune, Revelation, 1:276–78.

4. See also 4 Ezra 11:2, 5, 7, 10, 12, 20, 22, 24–26, 28, 33, 35, 37. It is a common enough Semitic idiom, occurring some fifty times in the Old Testament but in the New Testament only seven times, all in Revelation (4:1; 6:2, 5, 8; 7:9; 14:1, 14).

5. No mystic transformation is found here as in some texts (on which see 1 Enoch 71:11; 2 Enoch 22:8–10; 3 Enoch 15:1; C. R. A. Morray-Jones, “Transformational Mysticism in the Apocalyptic-Merkabah Tradition,” JJS 43 [1992]: 1–31). Later apocalypses (e.g., T. Jacob) also often include tours of heaven and hell, as in Milton; cf. Richard J. Bauckham, “Early Jewish Visions of Hell,” JTS 41 (1990): 355–85. “Tours of hell” originally reflect a Greek genre (e.g., Select Papyri 3:416–21) with roots no later than the interviews with the netherworld spirits in Homer’s Odyssey.

6. One could contrast an ascent “in spirit” with a “bodily” ascent as in some texts (1 Enoch 71:1; T. Abr. 8B; 2 Cor. 12:2–3), but in the context of Revelation “Spirit” here must refer to the Spirit of God, who inspires prophets (Rev. 1:10; 2:7; 19:10; cf. Odes Sol. 36:1–2; Hermas 1.1.1; 1.2.1; Craig S. Keener, The Spirit in the Gospels and Acts [Peabody, Mass.: Hendrickson, 1997], 10–13).

7. For opened heavens in Jewish epiphanies, see 1 En. 14:8; 2 Bar. 22:1; Test. Levi 2:6; 5:1; F. Lentzen-Deis, “Das Motiv der ‘Himmelsöffnung’ in verschiedenen Gattungen der Umweltliteratur des Neuen Testaments,” Biblica 50 (1969): 301–27. Both Jews and others could also understand the parting of the sky to send or receive bearers of divine revelation (Virgil, Aen. 9.20–21; T. Abr. 7 A). Ancient texts frequently envision heavenly “gates” or “doors” (e.g., PGM, 4.662–63).

8. E.g., Sifre Deut. 49.2.1; Ex. Rab. 28:1; 47:5; Lev. Rab. 1:15; Pes. Rab. 20:4. Whether this tradition is as early as John’s day is unclear, though cf. Deut. 30:12.

9. E.g., 1 Enoch 14:24–25; 15:1; 2 Enoch 21:3; 3 Enoch 41:1; 42:1; 43:1; 44:1; 47:1; also b. Hag. 14b (a rabbi repeating Moses’ experience); cf. Plutarch, Divine Vengeance 33, Mor. 568A. “Come and hear” or “Come and I will teach you” were common ways to invite hearers to contemplate a teaching (e.g., b. Ber. 19b; Men. 109b), but “Come and I will show you” could also function as an invitation to see something (b. B.B. 46a; 73b–74a; Bek. 28b).

10. For God enthroned, see Sir. 1:8; 1 Enoch 9:4; 18:8; 2 Enoch 1a:4; 20:3; T. Moses 4:2; CIJ, 2:54, §802; for apocalyptic and mystic portraits, see Life of Adam 25:3–4; T. Levi 5; Gershom G. Scholem, Major Trends in Jewish Mysticism, 3d rev. ed. (New York: Schocken, 1971), 44. Temples in Asia, as elsewhere, often included thrones for their deities (cf. David W. J. Gill, “Religion in a Local Setting,” 79–92 in The Book of Acts in Its Greco-Roman Setting, ed. D. W. J. Gill and C. Gempf [Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 1994], 89).

11. Some texts develop biblical imagery in ways similar to Revelation here, though often more fully (e.g., 1 Enoch 14:18–20; 71:5–9). For the magnitude of heavenly realities in later sources, however, see 3 Enoch 9:2–3; Pes. Rab. 20:4.

12. See David E. Aune, “The Influence of the Roman Imperial Court Ceremonial on the Apocalypse of John,” Biblical Research 28 (1983): 5–26; Meeks, Moral World, 145.

13. See Paul S. Minear, “The Cosmology of the Apocalypse,” 23–37 in Current Issues in New Testament Interpretation: Essays in honor of Otto A. Piper, ed. W. Klassen and G. F. Snyder (New York: Harper & Row, 1962), 31.

14. See Tenney, Revelation, 36; cf. Gerhard Delling, “Zum Gottsdienstlichen Stil der Johannes-Apokalypse,” NovT 3 (1959): 107–37.

15. They surround the throne like a royal court (some also cite the tradition of the Sanhedrin—Bowman, First Christian Drama, 43), but also like a Greek chorus (cf. Callimachus, Hymn 4.301; 4 Macc. 8:4; 13:8; 14:7–8; they could have 24 members), whose function as a composite, usually reliable character they perform here. In Jewish visions both angels (T. Abr. 7 A) and martyrs (4 Macc. 17:18–19) could stand by God’s throne.

16. Mounce, Revelation, 135–36, prefers angels. Feuillet, Studies, argues against angels (185–94) and in favor of Old Testament saints (194–214; idem, “Les vingt-quatre vieillands de l’Apocalypse,” RB 65 [1958]: 5–32; idem, “Quelques énigmes des chapitres 4 à 7 de l’Apocalypse: Suggestions pour l’interprétation du langage imagé de la révélation johannique,” Esprit et Vie 86 [1976]: 455–59); A. Geyser, “The Twelve Tribes in Revelation: Judean and Judeo-Christian Apocalypticism,” NTS 28 [1982]: 388–99 (p. 396 argues for the ideal Israel). Angels characteristically appear in white (1 Enoch 71:1; 87:2); later Jewish tradition also associated crowns with Israel at Sinai (ARN, 1A). For a survey of views, see Aune, Revelation, 1:288–92.

17. These remained in later times, cf. Luke 1:5, 8; Josephus, Life 2; Ant. 7.366; tos. Suk. 4:26–27; Taan. 2:1; 3:1; cf. 26 divisions in 1QM 2.2.

18. E.g., Jerusalem worship (Josephus, War 2.1; Ant. 11.327); the imperial cult (SEG, 11.923); pagan worship in general (Diogenes Laertius, 8.1.33; Athenaeus, 4.149d); Isis’ priests (Apuleius, Metam. 11.10); worshipers of Artemis (Acts of John 38). But white also symbolizes good (Diogenes Laertius, 8.1.34), joy (p. R.H. 1:3, §27), or burial garments of those who anticipate resurrection (Ps-Philo 64:6).

19. See Gregory M. Stevenson, “Conceptual Background to Golden Crown Imagery in the Apocalypse of John (4:4, 10; 14:14),” JBL 114 (1995): 257–72 (pp. 259, 261–65), although he does not settle on the priestly interpretation here (269).

20. Ramsay, Letters to the Seven Churches, 62–63.

21. The Targum understood the elders in Isa. 24:23 as Israel’s leaders (Beasley-Murray, Revelation, 113); Jewish tradition commonly viewed them as the heavenly court of which the Sanhedrin was an earthly replica (Joseph M. Baumgarten, “The Duodecimal Courts of Qumran, Revelation, and the Sanhedrin,” JBL 95 [March 1976]: 59–78 [pp. 67–70, 78]).

22. Homer, Il. 7.443; 15.377; Od. 5.4; Aristophanes, Lysis. 773; Pausanius, 10.9.11; among Diaspora Jews, Sib. Or. 1.323; 4.113; 5.302–3. See further John Pairman Brown, “Yahweh, Zeus, Jupiter: The High God and the Elements,” ZAW 106 (1994): 175–97. Some ancient thinkers did, however, offer purely naturalistic explanations for storms (Pliny, N.H. 2.18.82).

23. Fire is associated with God’s throne in Aramaic incantation text 12.14; with Abel’s judgment throne in T. Abr. 12 A.

24. This continued to be emphasized in Jewish (Josephus, Ant. 3.80; Ps-Philo 11:4–5) and Samaritan (John Bowman, ed., Samaritan Documents Relating to Their History, Religion & Life, POTTS 2 [Pittsburgh, Pa.: Pickwick, 1977], 48) tradition. Cf. also the stormy revelation in Ezek. 1:4, 13.

25. See 1 Enoch 14:10; Life of Adam 28:4; 29:2. Moisture fell through “doors” of heaven (Martial, Epig. 4.2; cf. Gen. 7:11; 1 Kings 8:35; Mal. 3:10).

26. See Manfred Lurker, The Gods and Symbols of Ancient Egypt: An Illustrated Dictionary (London: Thames & Hudson, 1980), 120; Alexander Badawy, A History of Egyptian Architecture: The Empire (1580–1085 B.C.) (Berkeley: Univ. of California Press, 1968), 161. This reflects the later, not earlier, period of temples (Harold H. Nelson, “The Egyptian Temple,” 147–58 in The Biblical Archaeologist Reader, ed. G. E. Wright and D. N. Freedman [Chicago: Quadrangle, 1961], 150–52). On the tabernacle in its cultural context, see Keener and Usry, Defending Black Faith, 139–46; “Tabernacle,” 837–40 in Dictionary of Biblical Imagery, ed. Leland Ryken et al. (Downers Grove, Ill.: InterVarsity, 1998).

27. Michaels, Revelation, 92–93; against Caird, Commentary on Revelation, 65–68 (despite 13:1; 21:1). Crystal stones or apparatus appears in heaven, e.g., in 1 Enoch 71:5; T. Abr. 12 A. Exodus’s sapphire probably reflects the transparent blue of heaven (with b. Men. 43b, bar.); later teachers (rightly) linked the blue of the sea with the blue of heaven (Sifre Num. 115.2.8).

28. Cf. James Moffatt, The First Epistle of Paul to the Corinthians, MNTC (London: Hodder & Stoughton, 1938), 201. On the rare use of glass windows, see S. Safrai, “Home and Family,” 728–92 in JPFC, 734; M. Cary and T. J. Haarhoff, Life and Thought in the Greek and Roman World, 4th ed. (London: Methuen, 1946), 101, 116.

29. For Jewish worship with angels, cf. also Sifre Deut. 306.31.1; probably also Ps. 148:2; 1QS 10.6; 1QM 12.1–2; Jub. 30:18; 31:14; Prayer of Manasseh 15; see further Fred O. Francis, “Humility and Angelic Worship in Col 2:18,” 163–95 in Conflict at Colossae, ed. F. O. Francis and W. A. Meeks, SBS 4 (Missoula, Mont.: Society of Biblical Literature, 1973), 178–80.

30. E.g., Sib. Or. 3.1–2; 1 Enoch 61:10; 71:7; 2 Enoch 1a:6; 21:1; 22:2; 3 Enoch 1:7–8; 21:1–2; 22:13–16; 26:9–12; 2 Bar. 51:11; Apoc. Abr. 18:3–12; b. Hag. 13b. Archangels apparently fill this role in 1 Enoch 20:7; 40:2–10. Contrary to some later distinctions between Ezekiel’s “living creatures” and cherubim (Ruth Rab. 5:4), Ezekiel identifies them (Ezek. 10:1–20; 11:22). Western Christian iconography conflated Ezekiel’s cherubim and Revelation’s creatures (Robin M. Jensen, “Of Cherubim & Gospel Symbols,” BAR 21 [July 1995]: 42–43, 65).

31. Thus these creatures are part of the throne (hence “in the center”); see Robert G. Hall, “Living Creatures in the Midst of the Throne: Another Look at Revelation 4:6,” NTS 36 (1990): 609–13.

32. Cf. m. Ab. 5:20. Cf. also Roloff, Revelation, 71–72, who with others (e.g., Caird, Commentary on Revelation, 64) is skeptical of the zodiacal interpretation proposed by some scholars. Mixed creatures featured in ancient imagery (e.g., Homer, Il. 6.179–82; Apollodorus, 2.3.1); for lions, see comment on Rev. 5:5; for eagles, on 8:13.

33. Ability to go without rest in God’s presence appears elsewhere (2 Enoch 22:3) and may be implied in Moses’ revelation (Ex. 24:18; 34:28; Deut. 9:9; 10:10); ceaseless praise appears in 1 Enoch 41:7. See Beale, Revelation, 332, for other early Jewish texts declaring that cherubim praised without rest. For eyes, cf. Aeschylus, Suppl. Maidens 303–5.

34. The Amida; see W. O. E. Oesterley, The Jewish Background of the Christian Liturgy (Oxford: Clarendon, 1925), 67–68; Aune, Revelation, 1:303–7. The trisagion (“Holy, holy, holy”) appears regularly in heavenly depictions (1 Enoch 39:12; 2 Enoch 21:1; 3 Enoch 1:12; 20:2; 27:3; 34:2; 35:5; 38:1; 39:1; 40:1–3; 22B:7; T. Adam 1:4) and elsewhere (4 Bar. 9:3; T. Abr. 3; 20 A; Aramaic incantation 33.5; CIJ, 2:373, §1448; A. L. Warren, “A Trisagion Inserted in the 4QSam^a Version of the Song of Hannah, 1 Sam. 2:1–10,” JJS 45 [1994]: 278–85). It was later adapted by Christian liturgy (Oesterley, Background, 142–47; David Flusser, “Jewish Roots of the Liturgical Trishagion,” Immanuel 3 [1973–1974]: 37–43).

35. This reflects careful design: The title “one who sits on the throne” recurs seven times in the book, as does the title “Christ”; Jesus appears fourteen times (7 with “witness”), and “lamb” twenty-eight times (7 in phrases linked with God); see Bauckham, Climax of Prophecy, 33–34.

36. Many commentators think the hymns in Revelation are or, more likely, resemble early Jewish Christian worship songs; see Oscar Cullmann, Christ and Time, tr. F. V. Filson (Philadelphia: Westminster, 1950), 74; Archibald M. Hunter, Paul and His Predecessors, rev. ed. (Philadelphia: Westminster, 1961), 37; Hans Conzelmann, History of Primitive Christianity, tr. J. E. Steely (Nashville: Abingdon, 1973), 74.

37. For prostration to worship God, see 2 Chron. 20:18; 29:30; 1 Esd. 9:47; Judith 6:18; 9:1; 1 Macc. 4:40, 55; 3 Macc. 5:50–51; Sir. 50:21; Ps-Philo 4:5; T. Abr. 20 A; 4 B. The nations in the end would prostrate themselves before God (Isa. 66:23; Sib. Or. 3.716, 725).

38. Repetition of terms (e.g., “glory,” “honor”) merely functions rhetorically to intensify the point, as if building to a crescendo (Ps. 150:1–6; 1 Enoch 41:7; 3 Enoch 1:12; 14:5); Jewish benedictions also praised God as Creator and Redeemer (cf. Rev. 5:9).

39. For God’s creating the world for Israel, see T. Moses 1:12–13; 4 Ezra 6:59; 7:11; Sifre Deut. 47.3.1; for the righteous, 2 Bar. 15:7; 21:24; Sifre Deut. 47.3.1–2; for humanity, 2 Bar. 14:18–19; Gr. Ezra 5:19; Koh. Rab. 7:13, §1; for Torah, ARN, 31, §66; Gen. Rab. 1:4, 10; 12:2. But some tradition also averred that he created all solely for his glory (m. Ab. 6:11).

40. Suetonius, Dom. 13; see further Deissmann, Light From the Ancient Past, 361; G. B. Caird, The Apostolic Age (London: Gerald Duckworth, 1955), 19, citing Dio Cassius, 67.13; Aune, Revelation, 1:310–12. Cf. hymns used to honor the emperor (Herodian, 4.2.5; Yamauchi, The Archaeology of New Testament Cities, 42).

41. See esp. the LXX of Ps. 86:15 (85:15 in LXX). Following the Bible, Jewish sources also reserved this title for God (1 Enoch 84:5); but Christians often paid a special price for it (see comment on 2:9).

42. E.g., Strombeck, Rapture, 185–86; see the response in Ladd, Blessed Hope (Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 1956), 76.

43. Strombeck, Rapture, 185–86; cf. similarly Walvoord, Revelation, 103. The exegetical shortcomings of the doctrine can be surmounted if (but probably only if) one presupposes traditional dispensationalism (see John F. Walvoord, The Rapture Question [Grand Rapids: Zondervan, 1972], 19–21, 65–66).

44. For events that follow, see Ep. Arist. 179; Josephus, Life 427; for visions that follow, see 1 En. 41:1; 2 Bar. 22:1. As Gundry, Church and Tribulation, 66, notes, if the phrase signifies a dispensational change, then six or seven such changes occur during the Tribulation.

45. So Lindsey, New World Coming, 86.

46. See also Gundry, Church and Tribulation, 74; Ladd, Blessed Hope, 96–97. The righteous in heaven (before the resurrection) wear robes, crowns, and sit on thrones in Asc. Isa. 9:24–26, but this probably reflects early Christian influence.

47. Walvoord, Revelation, 103, is among those who note the absence of the “church” between 4:1 and 22:16, though conceding that it is implied in 19:7.

48. Beale, Revelation, 311.

49. Seekers of mystic experiences can induce trances through natural means (e.g., J. G. Clark, “Noisy Brain in Noisy World” [NJ Psychological Association, Nov. 5, 1977]), and some activities that induce group ecstasy can produce psychophysiological changes (see Felicitas D. Goodman, Jeannette H. Henney, and Esther Pressel, Trance, Healing, and Hallucination: Three Field Studies in Religious Experience [New York: John Wiley & Sons, 1974]); but these do not guarantee God’s blessing.

50. Jewish tradition also could extol God’s greatness by envisioning an exalted one making crowns for the creator (b. Hag. 13b, bar.).

51. Stevenson, “Crown Imagery,” 269. See further analogies in Aune, Revelation, 1:308–309.

52. E.g., Sjef van Tilborg, Reading John in Ephesus, NovTSup 83 (Leiden: Brill, 1996), 201–2; Aune, The New Testament in Its Literary Environment, 243. Ancient worship often involved choral processions singing to deities (e.g., Livy, 27.37.7; 31.12.9–10).

53. Many passages in Revelation seem to contrast the heavenly worship of God and the Lamb with the earthly worship of Caesar; see Paul Barnett, “Polemical Parallelism: Some Further Reflections on the Apocalypse,” JSNT 35 (1989): 111–20).

54. “Worthy” (axios) was a Greek word typically used for great benefactors in antiquity, meaning what was “appropriate” or “fitting”; here it denotes that worship is fitting to God—more than to any other—as the greatest benefactor; see Aune, Revelation, 1:309–10.

55. J. I. Packer, Knowing God (Downers Grove, Ill.: InterVarsity, 1973), 23.

56. Richard J. Foster, Prayer: Finding the Heart’s True Home (New York: HarperCollins, 1992), 85.

57. Ibid.

58. See Hugh Ross, Creator and the Cosmos (Colorado Springs: NavPress, 1993).

1. Deissmann, Light From the Ancient Past, 29; George Milligan, St. Paul’s Epistles to the Thessalonians: The Greek Text with Introduction and Notes (London: Macmillan & Company, 1908), 123. Juvenal, an ancient Roman gossip columnist, makes fun of a dramatist who proved so verbose that his work filled both sides of a scroll and was not complete even by that point! See Juvenal, Sat. 1.4–6.

2. See P. Eleph. 1.16–18; P. Tebt. 104.34–35.

3. See Euripides, Hippol. 864–65; Chariton, Chaer. 4.5.8; Pes. Rab Kah. Sup. 2:4; Efrat Carmon, ed., Inscriptions Revealed: Documents From the Time of the Bible, the Mishna and the Talmud, tr. R. Grafman (Jerusalem: Israel Museum, 1973), 90–91, 200–201, §189. For a discussion of the specific form of document here, see esp. Beasley-Murray, Revelation, 120–23.

4. On recalling witnesses to testify to the validity of the seals, see P. Oxy. 494.31–43.

5. Beale, Revelation, 343, does cite testaments in which the seals of witnesses include abbreviations of the contents, but despite his objection, the use of seals to conceal in Dan. 12:4, 9, probably militates against that idea here.

6. Questions from heavenly figures or from the visionaries offer opportunities for clarification in apocalyptic texts, e.g., Dan. 10:20; Zech. 4–5; 1 Enoch 25:1; 54:4; 108:5; T. Abr. 12–13 A; 8 B; p. Hag. 2:2, §5; Cicero, De Re Publica 6.18.18. Aune, Revelation, 1:331, cites rhetorical “who” questions introducing praise hymns in antiquity. On scrolls being opened by addressees, see Euripides, Iph. Aulis 307.

7. Confused visionaries elsewhere receive such comfort (T. Abr. 7 B) or explanations (1 Enoch 19:1; 21:5, 9).

8. Also 1QSb 5.29. For other uses of the lion symbol in early Judaism, especially surrounding the Torah shrine, see CIJ, 1:197, §281a; 1:378–79, §§516–17; Zvi Uri Ma’oz, “Ancient Synagogues and the Golan,” BA 51 (June 1988): 116–28 (p. 125). Lions were an especially popular symbol in Asia, particularly in Lydia (Eric M. Meyers and A. Thomas Kraabel, “Archaeology, Iconography, and Nonliterary Written Remains,” 175–210 in Early Judaism and Its Modern Interpreters, ed. R. A. Kraft and G. W. E. Nickelsburg, SBLBMI 2 [Atlanta: Scholars, 1986], 191).

9. Bauckham, Climax of Prophecy, 181, citing 1QSb 5.24; Ps. Sol. 17:27; for Isa. 11:1–10 as a messianic text see 4QFlor 1.11–12; 4QpIsaa Frag. D. “Shoot from David” and “lion of Judah” appear together in 4QPatriarchal Blessings; 1QSb 5.20–29 (Bauckham, ibid.; L. P. Trudinger, “Some Observations Concerning the Text of the Old Testament in the Book of Revelation,” JTS, n.s. 17 (April 1966): 82–88 [p. 88]). Many view this passage as the Lamb’s enthronement; some (Aune, Revelation, 1:332–38) relate it to his investiture (citing Dan. 7:9–18).

10. Pervasive throughout literary sources: e.g., Homer, Il. 10.297, 485; 11.239, 548; Od. 4.724; 6.130; Virgil, Aen. 12.6; Apollonius Rhodius, 2.26–29; Babrius. 1, 65, 90–92, 95, 97, 101, 103, 105–7, 139; Phaedrus, 1.5; 4.14.2; Seneca, Dial. 4.11.4; Martial, 1.60; Cornelius Nepos, 18.11.1.

11. See 1 Macc. 3:4; Sib. Or. 11.290–91; Ps-Philo 24:6; T. Abr. 17 A; Pes. Rab Kah. 4:2; 11:24; 13:15; Pes. Rab Kah. Sup. 1:8.

12. Some portray the lamb as an image of power related to apocalyptic lambs (1 Enoch 90:38; Talbert, Apocalypse, 29), but this is a single slain lamb, and the earliest Jewish sources would think especially of Passover or sacrifice. Most thus see Jesus’ conquest through death and note the contrast of images (Boring, Revelation, 111; Bauckham, Climax of Prophecy, 183–84).

13. See Sir. 13:17; Diogenes Laertius, 6.5.92; Dionysius of Halicarnassus, 7.11.3; Aelian, Animals 7.27; Terence, Brothers, 534–35.

14. On Christ as paschal lamb here, see also Paul S. Minear, Images of the Church in the New Testament (Philadelphia: Westminster, 1960), 102–3; Norman Hillyer, “ ‘The Lamb’ in the Apocalypse,” EvQ 39 [1967]: 228–36; C. S. Keener, “Lamb,” 641–42 in Dictionary of Later New Testament; more speculatively, Fréderic Manns, “Traces d’une Haggadah pascale chrétienne dans l’Apocalypse de Jean?” Antonianum 56 (1981): 265–95.

15. See Bruce, “The Spirit in the Apocalypse,” 335.

16. Six witnesses in P. Eleph. 2.17–18; P. Lond. 1727.68–72; seven in Emmet Russell, “A Roman Law Parallel to Revelation Five,” BibSac 115 (1958): 258–64.

17. See B.G.U. 326.21.

18. George E. Ladd, A Theology of the New Testament (Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 1974), 623.

19. One might think of intercessions of departed saints for people on earth, as in 2 Macc. 15:12, 14; 1 En. 39:5 (though Ps-Philo 33:4–5 opposes this concept); but Revelation itself speaks of cries for vindication (Rev. 6:10; 8:4–6), which also brings judgment in 1 Enoch 97:3–5.

20. On preference for golden bowls, see Virgil, Georgics 2.192.

21. Though holding both harp and incense pans seems awkward, ancient art sometimes portrayed worshipers in this manner (see sources in Aune, Revelation, 1:355–56).

22. Greek tradition earlier portrayed human destinies as two urns before Zeus (Homer, Il. 24.527–33).

23. For full discussion of Jesus as an object of worship in Revelation, see Bauckham, Climax of Prophecy, 118–49; elsewhere in early Christianity, see Rom. 9:5; Pliny, Ep. 10.96.7. The Son of Man receives worship in Enoch’s Similitudes (48:5–6 as rendered by Knibb but not Isaac), but these may reflect some Christian influence.

24. Martin McNamara, Targum and Testament (Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 1972), 39.

25. This promise contrasts starkly with the pretensions of emperors who bestowed kingdoms and confirmed priestly offices (Kraybill, Imperial Cult and Commerce, 221–22). For other contrasts here, see Peder Borgen, “Moses, Jesus, and the Roman Emperor: Observations in Philo’s Writings and the Revelation of John,” NovT 38 (1996): 145–59. Worship appears as anticipatory eschatology also in Jewish mystic texts (P. Prigent, “Qu’est-ce qu’une apocalypse?” RHPR 75 [1995]: 77–84).

26. Kraybill, Imperial Cult and Commerce, 221; cf. Herodian, 4.2.5; Yamauchi, The Archaeology of New Testament Cities, 42. On the use of Christian hymns here, see Oscar Cullmann, Early Christian Worship (Philadelphia: Westminster, 1953), 21; A. M. Hunter, Paul and His Predecessors, rev. ed. (Philadelphia: Westminster, 1961), 37; for hymns’ centrality in Revelation, see Tenney, Revelation, 36; Gerhard Delling, “Zum gottesdienstlichen Stil der Johannesapokalypse,” NovT 3 (1959): 107–37.

27. Bauckham, Climax of Prophecy, 326–29.

28. The phrase likely means “an incalculable immensity” (cf. Beale, Revelation, 509, on 9:16).

29. Cf. 3 Enoch 17:2; 35:1; Apoc. Zeph. 4:2; 8:2. From Dan. 7:10 later rabbis deduced that God regularly created fresh angels for worship out of a fiery stream from his throne (b. Hag. 14a; Gen. Rab. 78:1). Angelic cries with “a loud voice” are not unexpected (2 Bar. 6:8), but for such a multitude “loud voice” is restrained language.

30. For creatures “under the earth” (5:3, 13), John may mean the sea (10:6; 14:7; 21:1), but “sea” and “under the earth” cannot interchange in 5:13, and he more likely means the chthonic realm (Phil. 2:10; Prayer of Joseph 11; ARN 2A), which Greeks might identify with Hades (Homer, Il. 3.276–78; Hesiod, W.D. 141; Virgil, Aen. 12.199; Dionysius of Halicarnassus, 11.37.6; Livy, 31.31.3; Chariton, Chaer. 5.7.10; PGM, 1.264, 315–16; 17a.2–3), as Jews would recognize (Josephus, Apion 2.240).

31. Michaels, Revelation, 18.

32. Boring, Revelation, 111.

33. Reader-response criticism (on which see Jane P. Tompkins, ed., Reader-Response Criticism: From Formalism to Post-Structuralism [Baltimore: Johns Hopkins, 1980]) has been used prescriptively, but we adopt here only its descriptive use. Since our own goal in hearing Scripture is to hear the message God inspired its authors to communicate, we still seek the authors’ intention (see E. D. Hirsch Jr., Validity in Interpretation [New Haven: Yale, 1967]).

34. For some examples of how slaves and abolitionists, as opposed to slaveholders, read biblical texts about justice and deliverance, see Glenn J. Usry and Craig S. Keener, Black Man’s Religion: Can Christianity be Afrocentric? (Downers Grove, Ill.: InterVarsity, 1996), 98–109.

35. For some indication of north and east African as well as western Asiatic presence in the Old Testament, see Usry and Keener, Black Man’s Religion, 60–82; in the ancient Mediterranean, see especially Frank M. Snowden, Blacks in Antiquity (Cambridge, Mass.: Harvard Univ. Press, 1970); idem, Before Color Prejudice (Cambridge, Mass.: Harvard Univ. Press, 1983).

36. Herodian, 3.14.6–7, remarks on Britons who run around naked so as not to cover their animal tattoos.

37. For early African Christian history, see Keener and Usry, Defending Black Faith, 13–19; Elizabeth Isichei, A History of Christianity in Africa from Antiquity to the Present (Lawrenceville, N.J.: Africa World; Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 1995), 13–44.

38. Ruth A. Tucker, From Jerusalem to Irian Jaya (Grand Rapids: Zondervan, 1983), 45; Stephen Neill, A History of Christian Missions (Baltimore: Penguin, 1964), 95–97.

39. See Roland Allen, Missionary Methods: St. Paul’s or Ours? (Chicago: Moody, 1956); Melvin L. Hodges, The Indigenous Church (Springfield, Mo.: Gospel, 1976); David Tai-Woong Lee, “Missionary Training by Nationals,” Training for Cross-Cultural Ministries (April 1998), 1–3 (in Mission Frontiers Bulletin [May 1998]). On contextualization, see the essays in D. A. Carson, ed., Biblical Interpretation and the Church: The Problem of Contextualization (Nashville: Nelson, 1985); William A. Dyrness, Emerging Voices in Global Christian Theology (Grand Rapids: Zondervan, 1994); Craig Blomberg, “The Globalization of Hermeneutics,” JETS 38 (Dec. 1995): 581–93.

40. F. F. Bruce, The Message of the New Testament (Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 1981), 84.

41. Chuck Colson notes that he “found fulfillment not in power, but in prison” (“My Journey from Watergate,” CT [Sept. 13, 1993], 96).

42. This true story was forwarded to me by Dr. Jeremiah Wright, pastor of Trinity United Church of Christ in Chicago.

43. Philip Yancey, “Why I Can Feel Your Pain,” CT (Feb. 8, 1999), 136.

44. See esp. the account of Henri Nouwen’s regular service to a severely disabled person, in Philip Yancey, “The Holy Inefficiency of Henri Nouwen,” CT (Dec. 9, 1996), 80; cf. also the service of Nancy, a disabled woman, to lonely people in her community in Tony Campolo, Wake Up America (Grand Rapids: Zondervan, 1991), 87–88. Sometimes we are more like the first disciples, who were so intent on getting Jesus quickly to Jerusalem to set up the kingdom that they missed what the kingdom was all about: blessing some children and healing a blind beggar (Mark 10:13–16, 48).

45. So Robert Louis Wilken, “Roman Redux,” Christian History 57 (1998): 42–44 (p. 43).

46. On Acts 10:34 (a text used by African-American Christians for abolitionism—James Melvin Washington, Frustrated Fellowship [Macon, Ga.: Mercer, 1986], 27), see esp. J. Julius Scott Jr., “Acts 10:34, a Text for Racial and Cultural Reconciliation Among Christians,” pp. 131–39 in The Gospel in Black and White, ed. D. L. Okholm (Downers Grove, Ill.: InterVarsity, 1997). For the centrality of ethnic reconciliation in Paul’s message, see Craig S. Keener, “The Gospel and Racial Reconciliation,” 117–30 in Gospel in Black and White.

47. Graham, Approaching Hoofbeats, 144–45; Edward Gilbreath, “Billy Graham Had a Dream,” Christian History 14 (Aug. 1995): 44–46; on Graham, see further William Curtis Martin, A Prophet with Honor (New York: Quill, William Morrow, 1991).

48. Russell Chandler, Racing Towards 2001 (Grand Rapids: Zondervan, 1992), 28.

49. In later tradition self-sacrificial devotion to God provided a favorable aroma to him (Gen. Rab. 34:9; 47:7; Song Rab. 4:6, §1), as sacrifices did (Gen. 8:21; 1QM 2.5; Jub. 3:27; 6:3–4; 21:14); incense was also useful in triumphs (Josephus, War 7.72), though the temple image fits better here. On spiritual sacrifices, see Ps. 50:14; 51:16–19; 69:30–31; 141:2; Isa. 1:11–17; 58:6–7; Hos. 6:6; Amos 5:21–24; Mic. 6:6–8; 1QS 9.4–5.

50. For a sampling of how much Israel’s worship language reflected its culture, see Mitchell Dahood, Psalms 1: Psalms 1–50, AB 16 (Garden City, N.Y.: Doubleday, 1966), though he probably depended too heavily on Ugaritic parallels. Worship styles change; the Anglican church did not sanction hymn-singing (cf. 1 Cor. 14:26; Eph. 5:19; Col. 3:16) until 1820 (“Did You Know?” Christian History, 31 [1991]: front inside cover.)

51. For example, “This is the day the LORD has made” refers not to every day but to the momentous day when the stone rejected by the builders became the chief cornerstone (Ps. 118:22–24).

52. Gilbert Hobbs Barnes, The Antislavery Impulse, 1830–1844 (New York: Harcourt, Brace & World, 1964), 3–11.

53. Timothy L. Smith, Revivalism and Social Reform: American Protestantism on the Eve of the Civil War (Baltimore: Johns Hopkins, 1980), 180; Usry and Keener, Black Man’s Religion, 106–7.

1. See González, Revelation, 53. Apocalyptic visions schematized the Tribulation in various ways (e.g., the 12-part tribulation in 2 Bar. 27), but some of these judgments would overlap rather than yielding a clear sequence (2 Bar. 27:14–15).

2. Wesley, Commentary on the Bible, 597 (viewing chs. 6–9 as past; chs.10–14 as current; and chs. 15–19 as imminent).

3. Some even think Rev. 6 reflects Mark 13 (Beasley-Murray, Revelation, 129–30).

4. Judaism probably derived this from paganism: e.g., Hesiod, W.D. 180–81; among regular portents, see, e.g., Livy, 36.37.2; Appian, C.W. 1.9.83; Lucan, C.W. 1.526–27. In Judaism, see 4 Ezra 5:8, 6:21.

5. See also the fourfold formulas in Ps-Philo 3:9; T. Jud. 23:3; and war, famine, pestilence, and invasion in Sib. Or. 3.331.

6. The threefold list of sword (war), pestilence, and famine (e.g., Jer. 14:12; 21:7–10; 27:8; 29:17–18; 32:24, 36; 34:17; 38:2; 42:17, 22; 44:13; Ezek. 5:12; 6:11–12; 7:15; 12:16). Cf. sword, famine, and death in Sib. Or. 3.335; the fivefold adaptation in Sifre Deut. 43.9.1; but longer lists are also common (e.g., Sib. Or. 3.601–3).

7. Cf. four angels of judgment in 1 Enoch 87:2–89:1; but other numbers of angels appear elsewhere. Aune, Revelation, 2:390, cites the various colored four heavenly horses of Greek gods, though the parallel may simply reflect the ideal number of chariot horses.

8. For the antichrist from Gog, see Mathias Rissi, “The Rider on the White Horse: A Study of Revelation 6:1–8,” Interpretation 18 (1964): 407–18; idem, Time and History, 72–73; Walvoord, Prophecy Knowledge Handbook, 553; Daniel K. K. Wong, “The First Horseman of Revelation 6,” BibSac 153 (1996): 212–26. For Apollo, see the careful work of Allen Kerkeslager, “Apollo, Greco-Roman Prophecy, and the Rider on the White Horse in Rev 6:2,” JBL 112 (Spring 1993): 116–21; he finds Apollo allusions in 9:11 and 12:1–5 (pp. 119–20); but in neither case are the Apollo allusions primary.

9. Oscar Cullmann, Christ and Time, tr. F. V. Filson (Philadelphia: Westminster, 1950), 161; idem, “Eschatology and Missions in the New Testament,” 409–21 in The Background of the New Testament and Its Eschatology, ed. W. D. Davies and D. Daube (Cambridge: Cambridge Univ. Press, 194), 416; Ladd, Theology, 623.

10. Greeks spoke of interventions of deities as their “epiphanies” (Martin Persson Nilsson, Greek Piety, tr. H. J. Rose [Oxford: Clarendon, 1948], 106). More likely here is the Jewish conception of a heavenly voice (Josephus, Ant. 13.282–83; b. Ab. 6:2; Sifre Deut. 357.10.3) decreeing God’s purposes.

11. See Homer, Il. 10.437; Livy, 5.28.1; b. Sanh. 93a.

12. See William M. Ramsay, The Cities of St. Paul: Their Influence on His Life and Thought (London: Hodder & Stoughton, 1907; reprint: Grand Rapids: Baker, 1979), 430; González, Revelation, 47.

13. On horses, see Tacitus, Ann. 15.17; 1 Enoch 56:7; Horace, Sat. 2.1.15. For famed Parthian archery, see Virgil, Aen. 12.857–58; Georg. 4.290, 313–14; Plutarch, Pompey 70.3; Tacitus, Ann. 15.4, 7, 9; Seneca, Ep. Lucil. 35.7; Jewish sources also associate archery with the east (Sib. Or. 5.116–17).

14. Ramsay, Letters to the Seven Churches, 58; Caird, Commentary on Revelation, 80.

15. Ramsay, Letters to the Seven Churches, 58–60, also noting that Parthian rulers regularly carried bows as their authority symbol.

16. Roman texts are full of allusions to the Parthian menace (e.g., Lucian, How to Write History), and many Palestinian Jews also had reason to fear them (cf. Josephus, War 1.248–273). For eschatological wars, see 1QpHab 3–4; but cf. also the final battle in 1QM.

17. With Boring, Revelation, 122.

18. See Kraybill, Imperial Cult and Commerce, 147.

19. In other early Jewish literature, see 1 Enoch 14:6; 88:2; 90:19; 91:11–12; Jub. 5:9; 9:15; 20:6; 22:8; 23:22–23; CD 1.4, 17; 1QM 11.11–12; 12.11–12; 15.3; 16.1; 1QpHab 6.10; 4QpNah 2.5; 2 Bar. 27:3–5; Sib. Or. 3.316, 689; T. Abr. 18 A; tos. B.K. 7:6; Suk. 2:6.

20. Mounce, Revelation, 154–55, also arguing (155 n. 12) that the term for killing is not the usual kind of death in battle. Usually, in fact, it is a ritual term, sometimes used for slaying prisoners, but it occasionally does apply to killing in battle (Judg. 12:6; Jer. 19:7).

21. E.g., Appian, C.W. 1.intro. 5; Lucan, C.W. 2.148–51; 4 Ezra 6:24. The current Flavian dynasty of which Domitian was a part had seized power during a sort of civil war in Rome.

22. See Dionysius of Halicarnassus, 10.53; Livy, 4.25.4–6.

23. Hierocles, How to Conduct Oneself Toward the Gods 1.3.53–54; Ps. Sol. 17:18–19; 2 Bar. 27:6; b. Ber. 55a. For pestilence as a divine judgment, see Diodorus Siculus, 14.69.4–14.71.4; Pes. Rab. 15:14/15.

24. See Plutarch, Nicias 29.1; for the staples, see Plutarch, Love of Wealth 2, Mor. 523F.

25. Naphtali Lewis, Life in Egypt Under Roman Rule (Oxford: Clarendon, 1983), 69.

26. Eight times the price of wheat and five and one-third that of barley (see Aune, Revelation, 2:397); the higher figure is in Beasley-Murray, Revelation, 132–33.

27. Many tried to exploit astrology to predict the prices of various commodities, sometimes even in ancient Judaism (Tr. Shem 1.11; 2.5, 8; 5.1–4; 6.7–11; 7.4–7, 14; 8.6–7; 11.8–9; 12.9).

28. Caird, Commentary on Revelation, 81; Beasley-Murray, Revelation, 133. The expense of wine if the vines were unhurt may reflect widespread drunkenness (m. Sot. 9:15; Pes. Rab. 15:14/15; cf. Joel 1:5). Wine and oil could be counted, however, as staples (Deut. 7:13; 11:14; 12:17; 14:23; 18:4; Neh. 5:11; Ps. 104:15; Mic. 6:15).

29. Suetonius, Dom. 7.2; 14.2.

30. Hemer, Letters to the Seven Churches, 158–59; though note the cautions in Aune, Revelation, 2:398–400. The economic difficulties of Domitian’s reign particularly impacted Roman Asia (Helmut Koester, Introduction to the New Testament [Philadelphia: Fortress, 1982], 2:251).

31. Kraybill, Imperial Cult and Commerce, 66–67.

32. Wesley, Commentary on the Bible, 599, thinks the prophecy was fulfilled in the famine during the reign of Trajan (early second century).

33. See also Josephus, War 6.198. For inflation at the end of the first century, see William White Jr., “Finances,” 218–36 in The Catacombs and the Colosseum, ed. S. Benko and J. J. O’Rourke (Valley Forge, Pa.: Judson, 1971), 234.

34. See Ramsay, Cities, 431–32; idem, Pauline and Other Studies in Early Church History (New York: A. C. Armstrong & Son, 1906; Grand Rapids: Baker, 1979), 241.

35. Longus, 1.17; Aune, Revelation, 2:400, cites texts in which this pallor relates to sickness, which may evoke pestilence (6:8).

36. Cf. Black, “Greek Words,” 136.

37. E.g., 2 Bar. 21:23; T. Abr. 8, 16A; 9B; Syr. Men. Sent. 444–46; Sib. Or. 3.393, 692; Sifre Deut. 305.3.3; ARN 12A; Pes. Rab Kah. Sup. 1:14. Death may be personified in Rev. 9:6; cf. 8:11; 20:14; Sir. 41:1–2; Ps. Sol. 7:4; Horace, Sat. 2.1.58. For famine personified, see Sib. Or. 3.331–32.

38. Lindsey, New World Coming, 103.

39. E.g., “How Safe Is Your Job?” NW (Nov. 5, 1990), 44–47; “Young, Gifted and Jobless,” NW (Nov. 5, 1990), 48–55; Marc Levinson, “Thanks. You’re Fired,” NW (Ma. 23, 1994), 48–49.

40. E.g., Virgil, Aen. 7.323–40.

41. For Christian conflicts with early American Deism, see Mark A. Noll, A History of Christianity in the United States and Canada (Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 1992), 135–36, 166; Steven J. Keillor, This Rebellious House: American History and the Truth of Christianity (Downers Grove, Ill.: InterVarsity, 1996), 100–101; Philip Yancey, “The Last Deist,” CT (Apri. 5, 1999), 88.

42. Keillor, Rebellious House, 254.

43. Ellul, Apocalypse, 150.

44. Graham, Approaching Hoofbeats, 123.

45. On nuclear proliferation, see Carrol Bogert, “Selling Off Big Red,” NW (Marc. 1, 1993), 50–51; Dorinda Elliott, “Psst! Wanna Buy a Missile?” NW (Sept. 6, 1993), 28; Tom Masland, “For Sale,” NW (Aug. 29, 1994), 30–31; Sharon Begley, “Chain Reaction,” NW (Jul. 12, 1993), 50–51; “Nuclear Challenges,” WPR (Oct. 1995), 4. On chemical and bacteriological weapons, see “The New Face of War,” WPR (March 1989), 11–21; “The ‘Winds of Death,’ ” NW (Jan. 16, 1989), 22–25; John Barry, “Planning a Plague?” NW (Feb. 1, 1993), 40–41; Sharon Begley, “The Germ Warfare Alert,” NW (Jan. 7, 1997), 25; Geoffrey Cowley and Adam Rogers, “The Terrors of Toxins,” NW (Nov. 24, 1997), 36–37.

46. See the secular doomsday scenario in Richard Kyle, The Last Days Are Here Again: A History of the End Times (Grand Rapids: Baker, 1998), 172.

47. Gary Haugen, Good News About Injustice (Downers Grove, Ill.: InterVarsity, 1999), 111–12.

48. “Neo-Nazi Novel a Blueprint for Hate,” SPLC [Southern Poverty Law Center] Report 25 (Sept. 1995): 1, 5. Terrorism is hardly new; anarchists bombed Wall Street in Sept. 1919, killing thirty-three people (Steven J. Keillor, This Rebellious House: American History and the Truth of Christianity [Downers Grove, Ill.: InterVarsity, 1996], 231).

49. SPLC Intelligence Report 28 (Winter 1998): 2.

50. Ancients also recognized the danger to noncombatant bystanders (e.g., Phaedrus, 1.30). For dealing with children traumatized by war, see Phyllis Kilbourn, ed., Healing the Children of War (Monrovia, Calif.: MARC, 1995).

51. See Iris Chang, The Rape of Nanking: The Forgotten Holocaust of World War II (Baltimore: Penguin, 1997); idem, “Exposing the Rape of Nanking,” NW (Dec. 1, 1997), 55–57; Ralph Kinney Bennett, “The Woman Who Wouldn’t Forget,” Reader’s Digest (Sept. 1998), 102–9.

52. Andrew Sung Park, Racial Conflict and Healing: An Asian-American Theological Perspective (Maryknoll, N.Y.: Orbis, 1996), 12–15.

53. Haugen, Injustice, 47.

54. Graham, Approaching Hoofbeats, 159.

55. Sider, Rich Christians, 11.

56. Bruce W. Nelan, “Sudan: Why Is This Happening Again?” Time (Jul. 27, 1998), 29–32. For previous famines, exacerbated by the civil war, see Bruce Bander, “Sudan’s Civil War: Silent Cries to a Deaf World,” World Vision (June 1996), 2–7.

57. For street children in India, see R. Shane Clark, When I Grow Up: Street Children of India (Columbus, Ga.: Positive Press, 1997). Some estimate 200 million street children around the world and suggest that at the current rate that number will be 800 million by 2020 (Asia’s Little Ones Update 8 (Jan. 1999): 1).

58. Ron Lajoie, “Shelter from the Storm,” Amnesty Action (Summer 1998), 6–8 (p. 6); see also Amnesty Action (Sept. 1991), 6.

59. Brook Larmer, “Dead End Kids,” NW (Ma. 25, 1992), 38–40 (p. 38).

60. Larmer, “Kids,” 38; “Children of the Streets: Life and Death Among Brazil’s Disposable Youth,” Amnesty Action (Sept. 1990), 1, 3, including a photo of a five-year-old street girl receiving a police “mug shot.” Cf. also “Armed and Dangerous,” WPR (Aug. 1995), 41. For homelessness in Europe, see Pascal Privat, “Down and Out in Europe,” NW (Jun. 29, 1992), 32; “Down and Out in London,” WPR (March 1994), 46–47; Peter Dammann, “St. Petersburg’s Street Kids,” WPR (Aug. 1992), 50.

61. “Tragedy, Success and Precocity: Brazil’s 7.5 Million Young Workers,” WPR (Jan. 1996), 10–12 (pp. 10–11).

62. Larmer, “Kids,” 38–39. For conditions, cf. also “Wage Slaves of Brazil,” WPR (Aug. 1993), 46.

63. Haugen, Injustice, 42.

64. See William L. Chaze, “Behind Swelling Ranks of America’s Street People,” USNWR (Jan. 30, 1984), 57–58; idem, “Helping the Homeless: A Fight Against Despair,” USNWR (Jan. 14, 1985), 54–55; Muriel Dobbin, “The Coming of the ‘Couch People,’ ” USNWR (Aug. 3, 1987), 19–21; “Hard Times,” NW (Marc. 21, 1988), 46–58; Beth Spring, “Home, Street Home,” CT (Apri. 21, 1989), 15–20; David Gelman, “Some Really Good Scouts” (on homeless girls), NW (Jan. 14, 1991), 58.

65. For the strains producing and produced by homelessness, see Donald Baumann and Charles Grigsby, Understanding the Homeless (Austin: Hogg Foundation for Mental Health, University of Texas, 1988); for the lifestyle of the mentally ill on the streets, see Pamela Diamond and Steven Schnee, Lives in the Shadows (Austin: Hogg Foundation for Mental Health, University of Texas, 1991); for an account of how a person could become homeless, see further Marie James and Jane Hertenstein, Orphan Girl: The Memoir of a Chicago Bag Lady (Chicago: Cornerstone, 1997).

66. See moving accounts in Mary Rose McGeady, God’s Lost Children (New York: Covenant House, 1991); idem, Does God Still Love Me? Letters from the Street (New York: Covenant House, 1995); idem, Please Help Me, God (New York: Covenant House, 1997); Bruce Ritter, Sometimes God Has a Kid’s Face (New York: Covenant House, 1988). For some further solutions, see Larry Wilson and Alice Shabecoff, “Three Ways Your Church Can Help the Homeless,” World Vision (Oct. 1994), 17–19; Ronald J. Sider, “Homelessness and Public Policy,” World Christian (Jan. 1990), 28–33.

67. Haugen, Injustice, 40–41, 53–55; cf. also an Alabama minister’s opposition to the exploitation of child laborers in the early twentieth century (55–57).

68. See Vicki Arnold, “Black Death Was Unparalleled for Panic and Fear,” Duke Dialogue (Dec. 11, 1987), 1, 5, summarizing the course taught by Duke University historian Tom Robisheaux; Mark Galli, “When a Third of the World Died,” Christian History 49 (1996): 36–39.

69. On God’s work, see “Wycliffe’s England: A Time of Turmoil,” Christian History 2/2 (1983): 6–9, 8; on the apocalyptic frenzy, Kyle, The Last Days, 51.

70. At the current rate of increase, AIDS will be the country’s leading killer of young men (NW [Jul. 19, 1993], 8; cf. “AIDS: At the Dawn of Fear,” USNWR [Jan. 12, 1987], 60–70; “Surviving the Second Wave,” NW [Sept. 19, 1994], 50–51). It has become a major threat to heterosexual women as well (Muriel Whetstone, “The Increasing Threat to Black Women,” Ebony [April 1994], 118–20; “Danger Signs,” NW [Marc. 21, 1994], 70).

71. On the sarin attack in Japan, see “A Cloud of Terror—and Suspicion,” NW (Apri. 3, 1995), 36–41. For arrests in the U.S., see NW (Ma. 29, 1995), 4; in the event of foreign terrorism, see “Fears of Bio-Warfare,” NW (Aug. 27, 1990), 4; Barry, “Planning a Plague?” NW (Feb. 1, 1993), 40; Begley, “Germ Warfare Alert,” NW (Jan. 7, 1997), 25.

72. Churches should be taking the lead in ministering to AIDS victims; see “Churches Urged to Lead the Way in AIDS Care,” CT (Jun. 17, 1988), 58; “The Church’s Response to AIDS,” CT (Nov. 22, 1985), 50–51; Andrés Tapia, “High-risk Ministry,” CT (Aug. 7, 1987), 15–19; “Joining the AIDS Fight,” NW (Apri. 17, 1989), 26–27; Doug Murren, “What the Church Should Do About AIDS,” Ministries Today (May 1992), 53–55, and other articles in that issue.

73. Edward Gilbreath, “Insider Turned Out,” CT (Feb. 5, 1996), 35–36; Erik Segalini, “Dying to Tell You,” Worldwide Challenge (July 1998), 22–25. Ryan attended St. Luke’s United Methodist Church in Kokoma, Indiana, where he found acceptance (Pentecostal Evangel [Marc. 22, 1987], 27).

74. See “AIDS in Africa,” CT (Apri. 8, 1988), 36–40; “Of Orphans and AIDS,” WPR (March 1991), 34; “Scared Celibate,” WPR (Sept. 1993), 46; Ken Sidey, “AIDS Reshapes Africa’s Future,” CT (Oct. 22, 1990), 47–49; Ginni Freshour, “AIDS in Uganda,” InterVarsity (Fall 1994), 16–17; “Making Men Listen,” NW (Sept. 25, 1995), 52; esp. “The War Against HIV,” CT (Apri. 4, 1994), 70–73.

75. Philosopher Albert Camus posed a moral dilemma: Should a Christian combat a plague God had sent? But the Bible answers with the character of Jesus, who sacrificially provided healing (Matt. 8:16–17) and resources (Mark 6:38–42).

76. See also the radical demands of leaders in earlier revivals, such as John Wesley (Theodore W. Jennings Jr., Good News to the Poor: John Wesley’s Evangelical Economics [Nashville: Abingdon, 1990]) and Charles Finney (Lectures on Revivals of Religion [New York: Revell, 1869], 53, 127).

77. Graham, Approaching Hoofbeats, 159.

78. Chandler, Racing Towards 2001, 30.

79. Ibid., 220.

80. Ibid., 223.

1. Similarly, sinners assume that the death of the righteous is their end in 1 En. 102:6–8, but God encourages the righteous (102:4) and in the end destroys sinners (103).

2. Many apocalyptic visions also allowed the seers to view disembodied “souls,” e.g., Apoc. Mos. 13:6; 32:4; T. Job 52:9/4; Apoc. Paul 13. Aune, Revelation, 2:404 cites Greek traditions about the visibility of the soul. Cf. a celestial altar in Aratus, Phaen. 403.

3. As the only prayer for supplication in Revelation, 6:9–11 is significant for the entire book; cf. J. P. Heil, “The Fifth Seal (Rev 6,9–11) as a Key to the Book of Revelation,” Biblica 74 (1993): 220–43.

4. Caird, Commentary on Revelation, 85.

5. In Revelation as opposed to 4 Ezra, the storehouses are above rather than below; but 4 Ezra compares eagerness for the consummation with a woman in travail (4 Ezra 4:41–42), as Paul had much earlier (Rom. 8:22–23, 26). In 3 Enoch 44:7–8 the righteous dead cry out “How long?” and learn that the evil of the wicked delays the kingdom.

6. Cf. also 1 Enoch 89:68–69; 2 Bar. 23:3–5. The suffering of the righteous often characterizes the end time in Jewish texts (e.g., T. Moses 8:4; m. Sot. 9:15; b. Ket. 112b).

7. The metaphoric image of “filling up a measure” (also 1 Thess. 2:16) is an old one in Greek literature (Homer, Il. 8.354; 11.263; Apollonius Rhodius, 1.1035, 1323); Jews also spoke of the appointed period of one’s life being “filled” (cf. 1 Chron. 17:11; T. Abr. 1 B). Both emphasize the sovereignty of God or (in the pagan view) fate.

8. David Wenham, The Rediscovery of Jesus’ Eschatological Discourse, vol. 4 of Gospel Perspectives (Sheffield: JSOT, 1984), 208, finds in Rev. 6:11 an allusion to the tradition in Luke 21:24, the fulfilling of the times of the Gentiles.

9. Bauckham, Climax of Prophecy, xvi.

10. Caird, Commentary on Revelation, 84. The later rabbinic tradition linking burial in the land with burial under the altar (e.g., Ford, Revelation, 110) merely illustrates rabbinic emphasis on the holiness of the land; more tellingly, all souls were under the throne of glory (ARN 12A; 25, §51B), in God’s treasuries (2 Bar. 30:2).

11. Sallust, Letter to Caesar 4.2; Livy, 10.38.11; Phaedrus, 4.6.9; Josephus, Ant. 17.237. Cf. likewise Phil. 2:17; 2 Tim. 4:6; Ignatius, Rom. 4.2; possibly T. Moses 9.

12. Ladd, The Last Things, 39.

13. The “white” may reflect those purified by tribulation (Dan. 11:35; see Beale, Revelation, 394, 437).

14. See Livy, 22.5.8. The earthquakes in Isa. 5:25 and Sib. Or. 5.438–39 may represent war; cf. the locust armies in Joel 2:10.

15. It also resembles the Sinai theophany (Ex. 19:16–18; Hab. 3:6, 10; Ps-Philo 11:5; 23:10); earthquakes were often judgments within history (Sib. Or. 1.187; 3.449–59). Cf. the apparently eschatological language for a past event in Sib. Or. 3.286–92.

16. On the eschatological earthquake, see further Richard Bauckham, “The Eschatological Earthquake in the Apocalypse of John,” NovT 19 (1977): 224–33. The collapse of creation to its original formlessness (Gen. 1:2) is a sign of judgment (cf. Jer. 4:23; 1QM 17.4); the end-time earthquake in 1 Enoch 1:6–7 recalls the quaking at Sinai (1:4–5).

17. See Bauckham, Climax of Prophecy, 206–7. Pagans also generally regarded earthquakes as portents of judgment (Ovid, Metam. 15.798; Pausanias, 7.24.6), though some explained them as purely natural phenomena (Diodorus Siculus, 15.48.3–4; Diogenes Laertius, 7.1.154; 10.105).

18. E.g., Livy, 37.4.3; Diodorus Siculus, 20.5.5; Dio Cassius, 57.4.4; tos. Suk. 2:6. Some, however, gave them purely naturalistic explanations as generally today (Livy, 44.37.6–7; Pliny, N.H. 2.6.47; Diogenes Laertius, 10.114–15).

19. Even if angels are in view here (cf. 12:4), it is presumably because they are linked with the stars (Isa. 24:21); for astral battles, cf. Judg. 5:20; Sib. Or. 5.211–13, 512–31. Islands would include those with exiles (1:9). Beale, Revelation, 397, notes that many of the Old Testament allusions reflect temporal judgment on a sinful nation; but we regard the confluence of images as finally eschatological for most first-century readers. Aune, Revelation, 2:415, cites ancient texts in which falling stars were simply signs of impending temporal judgment; but most of these are either poetic, refer to only some stars, or would be understood differently by the first century.

20. Cf. Isa. 50:3; Joel 2:10, 31; see further 4 Ezra 7:38–42; Sib. Or. 1.200–202; 3.800–804; 5.476–84; 8.190–93, 204; T. Mos. 10:5; analogous irregularities in 4 Ezra 5:4–5 may reflect the Roman tradition of portents (cf. Livy, 29.14.3).

21. The looseness of unripe, green figs would have been an image with which most people in the Mediterranean world would have been familiar. See Mounce, Revelation, 161 n. 35; F. F. Bruce, The New Testament Documents: Are They Reliable? 5th ed. (Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 1980), 73–74.

22. Milligan, Thessalonians, 124. Ford suggests the clatter of metal scrolls like Qumran’s copper scroll (Ford, Revelation, 100).

23. For geographical upheavals in the eschatological time, see also Sib. Or. 3.680–86; 5.447–83.

24. See Demosthenes, Against Phormio 31; Cornelius Nepos, 2.6.5.

25. Many texts list similar distinctions (e.g., Plato, Theaetetus 175A; T. Abr. 19A). God’s judgment against the powerful (e.g., 1 Enoch 48:8; 54:2; 62:3–12; Sib. Or. 5.380) emphasizes his power and the pretentiousness of their arrogance.

26. Other texts speak of the wicked unsuccessfully desiring to hide at the judgment (Sir. 16:17–19; 1 Enoch 104:5; Sib. Or. 5.273), some making allusion to Isa. 2:18–20 (Sib. Or. 3.606–7). Universal fear would characterize this time (cf. Isa. 2:19–21; 1 Enoch 1:5; Sib. Or. 3.679).

27. On the caves in Sardis’ Necropolis, see Hemer, Letters to the Seven Churches, 140. One might hide beneath a hollow rock (Ovid, Metam. 9.211). Although it is probably not John’s own focus, former pagans in his audience may have seen in 6:15 judgment on their deities as in Ex. 12:12; mountains, for instance, were reputed dwellings of Pan (Dionysius of Halicarnassus, 1.38.1).

28. One might hide in caves even from human aggressors, yet die by other means (Ezek. 33:27).

29. In some Jewish traditions, God’s face might appear at the judgment (Sib. Or. 3.556–61); an image in the sky functioned as a terrible portent of doom (Herodian, 8.3.8–9).

30. Various texts emphasize God’s incomparable greatness in contrast to human mortality by asking who may stand in God’s presence (Ps. 76:7; 130:3; Jer. 49:19; 50:44), some with reference to his day of wrath (Nah. 1:6; Mal. 3:2; 2 Bar. 48:17; Apoc. Zeph. 12:7).

31. Cf. also prayers for corporate judgment in early Judaism, e.g., 1 Enoch 9:10; 84:6; 95:2; 99:3; 1QM 12.11–12; CIJ, 1:524, §725; also Deissmann, Light From the Ancient Past, 413–24. Greeks readily prayed for others’ destruction (Walter Burkert, Greek Religion, tr. J. Raffan [Cambridge, Mass.: Harvard Univ. Press, 1985], 75; Aune, Revelation, 2:409).

32. See Pes. Rab Kah. 15:7. See in more detail Keener, Matthew (Downers Grove, Ill.: InterVarsity, 1997), 341.

33. See here Michaels, Revelation, 108. For judgment as liberation, see Stephen Hre Kio, “The Exodus Symbol of Liberation in the Apocalypse and Its Relevance for Some Aspects of Translation,” BibTrans 40 (Jan. 1989): 120–35; for Revelation’s value for the oppressed, see Christopher Rowland, “Keeping Alive the Dangerous Vision of a World of Peace and Justice,” Concilium 200 (1988): 75–86.

34. John S. Mbiti, African Religions and Philosophies (Garden City, N.Y.: Doubleday, 1970), 70. Greeks typically attributed earthquakes to Poseidon (Pausanias, 7.24.6), the “Earth-Shaker” (hundreds of times in ancient literature [e.g., Homer, Il. 7.445; 20.13; Od. 1.74]); sometimes to Zeus (Orphic Hymn 15.8); but some attributed them to natural causes (Diodorus Siculus, 15.48.3–4; Diogenes Laertius, 7.1.154; 10.105).

35. “After the Shock,” NW (Oct. 30, 1989), 22–27, 22. One fifty-seven-year-old survivor’s rescue after ninety hours of being buried alive elicited his ex-wife’s praise to God (“Out of the Ruins, a Miracle,” NW [Oct. 30, 1989], 32).

36. See, e.g., “Bracing for the Big One,” NW (Oct. 30, 1989), 28–32; “Coping with Quake Fear,” NW (Oct. 30, 1989), 42–47; “The Quake’s Fearful Wake,” NW (Jan. 8, 1990), 54. Many areas of the U.S. are currently vulnerable to quakes; see the charts and data in “’Any Old Day Now … ,’ ” NW (Jan. 30, 1995), 28.

37. For that matter, those who market secular products like Coca-Cola often work more strategically than Christians seeking to propagate the gospel (see Paul Eshleman with Carolyn E. Phillips, I Just Saw Jesus [Laguna Niguel, Calif.: The Jesus Project, 1985], 173–74).

38. On the International Churches of Christ (not to be confused with the mainstream Churches of Christ), see Randy Frame, “The Cost of Discipleship?” CT (Sept. 1, 1997), 64–88. Despite my opposition to the group’s extreme tactics and doctrine, I believe that it contains many genuine Christians.

39. Roger Steer, “Pushing Inward,” Christian History 52 (1996), 10–18 (p. 18). Taylor was so passionate that he could not bear to remain in one church service in England where he saw over 1,000 Christians rejoicing while millions perished unreached (ibid., 14).

40. Mark Galli, “Fury Unleashed,” Christian History 52 (1996), 31–33 (p. 33).

41. See “Burning Shame,” India Today (Feb. 8, 1999), 10–16 (an Indian magazine strongly condemning the killing of a missionary and his sons).

42. On past fields, see Ruth A. Tucker, From Jerusalem to Irian Jaya (Grand Rapids: Zondervan, 1983), 35, 49, 57, 222, 294, 419–36. For some twentieth-century martyrs, including many missionaries, see James and Marti Hefley, By Their Blood: Christian Martyrs of the 20th Century (Milford, Mich.: Mott Media, 1979); cf. more recently Paul A. Marshall, Their Blood Cries Out: The Worldwide Tragedy of Modern Christians Who Are Dying for Their Faith (Dallas: Word, 1997).

43. John Fischer, “When Christianity Pays,” Contemporary Christian Magazine (Dec. 1985), 46.

44. Graham, Approaching Hoofbeats, 26.

1. E.g., Tenney, Revelation, 73. Ford, Revelation, 120, provides other examples in Jewish judgment texts.

2. Bauckham, Climax of Prophecy, 216–18; Caird, Commentary on Revelation, 178; Michaels, Revelation, 1–70. Cf. 1QM 2.1–3.

3. Bauckham, Climax of Prophecy, 218 (see 1 Macc. 3:55; Josephus, War 2.578; 1QM 4.2, 16; 5.3). The actual numbers in Jewish units, as in Roman units, may have often been less than their paper strength. John’s vision may adapt the Jewish image of twelve tribes participating in the final war (1QM 2.2–3, 7; 3.13–14; 14.16; Bauckham, Climax of Prophecy, 219). The absence of clearer military imagery makes Aune seem skeptical at one place (Revelation, 2:436), though he elsewhere seems to accept the end-time army view (pp. 444, 463).

4. See González, Revelation, 55; Tenney, Revelation, 78; Ryrie, Revelation, 51; Walvoord, Revelation, 143. See esp. the insightful arguments of A. Geyser, “The Twelve Tribes in Revelation: Judean and Judeo-Christian Apocalypticism,” NTS 28 (July 1982): 388–99.

5. Aune, Revelation, 2:443, makes a forceful argument that the 144,000 represent those believers who would survive the end-time Tribulation, but makes too much of a distinction of “from” in 7:4–8 and the contrast with the multitude of 7:9–17.

6. On the restoration of the “lost” ten tribes, see Joachim Jeremias, New Testament Theology (New York: Charles Scribner’s, 1971), 235; E. P. Sanders, Jesus and Judaism (Philadelphia: Fortress, 1985), 96–97.

7. Most modern commentators acknowledge this. See Heinrich Schlier, Principalities and Powers (New York: Herder and Herder, 1961), 70; Caird, Commentary on Revelation, 94–95; Rissi, Time and History, 89, 110; Mounce, Revelation, 168–70; Beasley-Murray, Revelation, 140; Bauckham, Climax of Prophecy, 399; Johnson, Revelation, 85; Michaels, Revelation, 113; Beale, Revelation, 412–423.

8. Bauckham, Climax of Prophecy, 215–16; Michaels, Revelation, 113.

9. Richard Bauckham, “The Book of Revelation as a Christian War Scroll,” Neot 22 (1988): 17–40.

10. See 1 Enoch 18:1; 35:1–36:2; some manuscripts of Jos. and Asen. 12:2/3; God restrains them for the world’s survival in Gen. Rab. 24:4; Lev. Rab. 15:1. They prove especially useful for navigating heavenly chariots (1 En. 72:5; 73:2; Apoc. Moses 38:3; cf. Ps. 18:10; 104:3), which chariots also appear regularly as an image in Gentile sources. In Virgil, Aen. 1.56–59, Aeolus keeps the winds in check.

11. Although most ancients believed that the earth was relatively flat, they viewed it as a circle, not a square. For four winds meaning all directions, see Ezek. 37:9; Dan. 7:2; 8:8; Zech. 2:6; Mark 13:27. For four corners, see Rev. 20:8; also Isa. 11:12; 2 Bar. 6:4–5; Test. Asher 7:3. For heaven’s spherical (dome) shape, see Aristotle, Heavens 2.4, 286b10; a few astronomers also had recognized the earth as a sphere by this period (cf. Diogenes Laertius, 9.9.57). The harmful winds were from NE, NW, SE and SW (Mounce, Revelation, 166).

12. This is a far more common image (e.g., Homer, Od. 3.1; 19.434) than any other for the east and is, as here, part of a common idiom for “east.”

13. See Sophocles, Oedipus Tyrannus 660–61; Orph. Hymns introduction 3–4; Josephus, Apion 2.265; for naturalistic views, Diogenes Laertius, 7.1.144; 8.2.77; Plutarch, Oracles at Delphi 12, Mor. 400BC. For the Jewish views, see 1QS 10.1–5; CD 10.15–16; 1 Enoch 72:2–37; 75:4; 4 Bar. 4:4; T. Sol. 6:10; 2 Enoch 11:4; 14:3; 3 Enoch 17:4; tos. Ber. 6:6.

14. Phylacteries in Ex. 13:8–9; Deut. 6:8; 11:18 may have been intended figuratively. For a fuller list of views and supporting sources, see Ford, Revelation, 116–17.

15. See Martial, Epig. 3.21; Plutarch, Nicias 29.1; Ps-Phocylides, 225; for a slave collar, see CIL, 15.7194; slave tattooing may be implied in the oppression of Jews in 3 Macc. 2:28–29. For slave branding in an earlier period, see I. Mendelsohn, “Slavery in the Ancient Near East,” BA 9 (Sept. 1946): 78–88 (pp. 80–82). Some peoples tattooed their children (Artemidorus, Oneir. 1.8; Sextus Empiricus, Outlines of Pyrr. 1.148; 3.202), but not in Asia. On branding, tattooing, and other marking, see more fully Aune, Revelation, 2:456–59.

16. Sealing seems to function as divine consecration for a task in T. Job 5:2; and impressing for service in T. Sol. 2:5. Aune, Revelation, 2:758, cites Pindar, Olymp. 3.29–30 as evidence that bearing a deity’s name can indicate divine ownership; cf. 3 Macc. 2:28–29.

17. For the cross here, see David Daube, The New Testament and Rabbinic Judaism (Peabody, Mass.: Hendrickson, n.d.; London: University of London, 1956), 401–2; see data in b. Shab. 55a; Ford, Revelation, 123; perhaps cf. m. Men. 6:3.

18. Cf. also the protective sign in Gen. 4:15; Ex. 12:23. The “sign” of circumcision (Gen. 17:11), appropriate to the image of Israelites, would spare Israel from end-time destruction (Jub. 15:26). For delaying judgment until the righteous can be preserved or informed, see 1 En. 66:1–67:2; 4 Bar. 3:5. God protects his people while judging the wicked in 1 Enoch 100:5; Talbert compares also the protection of God’s people during the final trial in 2 Bar. 29:2; 71:1 (Apocalypse, 36).

19. Josephus, Ant. 2.294–95; 3.17. Cf. also the principle in Gen. 18:23–25.

20. See Bauckham, Climax of Prophecy, 221, although what he suspects as unsuccessful memory of the birth order I suspect may simply represent mixed criteria; the Old Testament arranges the tribes list nearly twenty different ways! Christopher R. Smith, “The Portrayal of the Church as the New Israel in the Names and Order of the Tribes in Revelation 7.5–8,” JSNT 39 (1990): 111–18, suggests the handmaids’ sons are promoted to signify Gentile inclusion (Bauckham disagrees in “The List of the Tribes in Revelation 7 Again,” JSNT 42 [1991]: 99–115). R. E. Winkle, “Another Look at the List of Tribes in Revelation 7,” AUSS 27 (1989): 53–67, suggests a counterclockwise reversal of the list of Ezek. 48:31–34 (cf. Rev. 21:12), while keeping Judah first; but this scheme is not obvious.

21. Beasley-Murray, Revelation, 143–44; Caird, Commentary on Revelation, 99; Ford, Revelation, 118; Talbert, Apocalypse, 35. For idolatry, see e.g., tos. Shab. 7:3; Gen. Rab. 43:2; Pes. Rab. 12:13; for the Antichrist tradition, Irenaeus, Her. 5.30.2; see Hippolytus, On the Antichrist 14; earlier but less clear, see Jub. 44:28–33. Dan is one of the few tribes appearing almost exclusively in a negative light in Judges.

22. Bauckham, Climax of Prophecy, 222–23. The title “Ephraim” may have connoted Pharisees in some Qumran texts (see Stephen Goranson, “The Exclusion of Ephraim in Rev. 7:4–8 and Essene Polemic Against Pharisees,” Dead Sea Discoveries 2 [1995]: 80–85), but it seems doubtful that John’s audience would know that specifically Essene polemic.

23. Lindsey, New World Coming, 116–17.

24. On threats of environmental catastrophe, see “Ravage in the Rain Forests,” USNWR (Marc. 31, 1986), 61–62; “Facing Life in a Greenhouse,” USNWR (Sept. 29, 1986), 73–74; several articles in NW (Jul. 11, 1988), 16–24; “More Bad News in the Air,” NW (Feb. 17, 1992), 26; Gregg Easterbrook, “Return of the Glaciers,” NW (Nov. 23, 1992), 62. For more cautious views, see “Is It All Just Hot Air?” NW (Nov. 20, 1989), 64–66; “Feuding Over Global Warming,” WPR (July 1995), 6–11; Sharon Begley, “Odds on the Greenhouse,” NW (Dec. 1, 1997), 72.

25. Revelation: Grand Climax, 115–18. They then take the great crowd of 7:9–17 as those sealed from 1935 forward, after J. F. Rutherford’s new revelation when the literal number was nearly complete (ibid., 119–29). Hans Hut, an effective sixteenth-century evangelist, also tried to prepare a literal 144,000 (Gentile Christians) for Christ’s return (“A Gallery of Factions, Friends & Foes,” Christian History 4 [1985]: 13–16 [p. 14]).

26. Though numerical improbabilities were commonly accepted (e.g., Jos. and Asen. 2:6/11, where all Aseneth’s seven servant women were born the same night as she), symbolic numbers were standard fare in apocalyptic texts (Leon Morris, Apocalyptic [Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 1972], 39).

27. Strombeck, Rapture, 145. Contending that they represent Israel, he claims this proves that Israel must be on earth during the Tribulation (ibid., 119)—a point that no one actually disputes, but which he believes implies the church cannot be on earth (a classic non sequitur).

28. Lindsey, New World Coming, 112–16.

29. Ibid., 120–21.

30. See John S. Mbiti, African Religions and Philosophies (Garden City, N.Y.: Doubleday, 1970), 71.

31. Eugene Thomas, personal correspondence (Aug. 15, 1998).

32. Dawn Sundstrom, “Twister?” Worldwide Challenge (July 1998), 38–41.

33. Crowding into a church, as in the above account of divine protection, does not necessarily bring safety; cf. horror stories from Rwanda (e.g., Gary Haugen, “Rwanda’s Carnage,” CT [Feb. 6, 1995], 52–53; Richard Nyberg, “Bloodletting Sweeps Rwanda,” CT [Ma. 16, 1994], 54; Joshua Hammer, “Inside a War Zone: ‘The Situation Is Desperate,’ ” NW [Jun. 20, 1994], 44–46).

34. Gary Haugen, Good News About Injustice (Downers Grove, Ill.: InterVarsity, 1999), 30.

35. Norman H. Murdoch, “The Booths’ Children,” Christian History 26 (1990): 26.

36. Melody Green and David Hazard, No Compromise: The Life Story of Keith Green (Chatsworth, Calif.: Sparrow, 1989), 265–85; Last Days Newsletter 5 (Sept. 1982).

37. See the articles in Reconcilers (Spring 1998).

38. Christopher D. Hancock, “The ‘Shrimp’ Who Stopped Slavery,” Christian History 53 (1997): 12–19 (p. 12).

39. In context, texts like Matt. 10:29–31 and 1 Peter 4:19 esp. address persecution by God’s enemies, the circumstances where we would be least likely to acknowledge God’s hand.

40. Charles Colson, Kingdoms in Conflict (Grand Rapids: Zondervan, 1987), 273.

41. Wendy Murray Zoba, “Brother Andrew’s Boldest Mission Yet: ‘Smuggling’ Jesus into Muslim Hearts,” CT (Oct. 5, 1998), 50–56.

42. Cf. here also Christopher R. Smith, “The Tribes of Revelation 7 and the Literary Competence of John the Seer,” JETS 38 (June 1995): 213–18 (p. 217).

1. In some texts a “countless multitude” could stand for Gentile oppressors (20:8), building suspense (Jdt. 2:20), but texts also apply it to Jewish people (3 Macc. 4:17). Though most scholars today identify the two groups in Rev. 7, most scholars at the turn of the twentieth century distinguished them (Aune, Revelation, 2:447).

2. Cf. Jonathan A. Draper, “The Heavenly Feast of Tabernacles: Revelation 7.1–17,” JSNT 19 (Oct. 1983): 133–47, who associates it (probably too specifically) with the end-time pilgrimage for Tabernacles in Zech. 14:16–19 (note the palm branches in 7:9). Ford, Revelation, 126, suggests 7:9–17 may portray the Jewish Diaspora remnant.

3. E.g., Ladd, The Last Things, 71–72.

4. Bauckham, Climax of Prophecy, 223–24.

5. Aune, Revelation, 2:466–67.

6. See Jub. 16:31. Some see Tabernacles allusions here (Draper, “Feast”; T. F. Glasson, Moses in the Fourth Gospel [Naperville, Ill.: Alec R. Allenson, 1963], 107–8); but cf. Aune, Revelation, 2:449. For a worship background in general, see G. Adolf Deissmann, Bible Studies, tr. A. Grieve (Edinburgh: T. & T. Clark, 1923), 370.

7. See thorough documentation in Aune, Revelation, 2:468. Even Tabernacles’ palm branches are interpreted with reference to victory (before God’s court) in Pes. Rab Kah. 27:2.

8. Revelation often employs sevenfold praises; multiple praises appear elsewhere as well (Ford, Revelation, 119, identifies seven in 4QS 1.37–40). For “standing” (7:11), Aune, Revelation, 2:471, cites the Jewish tradition that no one was permitted to sit in God’s presence (4Q405), though the elders are an exception (Rev. 4:4).

9. With promptings, as here, see Zech. 4:2, 5, 13; 5:2; Apoc. Paul 19; without promptings, see Dan. 8:13–16; 12:8; Zech. 1:9, 19, 21; 4:4, 12; 5:6; 6:4; 4 Ezra 10:29–37; 2 Bar. 38:3; T. Abr. 10 A; Apoc. Zeph. 6:16–17. Aune, Revelation, 2:472, parallels questions used to identify visitors or visions in the underworld.

10. That Matthew applies it at least partly to the period surrounding A.D. 66–70 is difficult to deny in view of Matt. 24:34 (cf. 23:36–38); see Craig Keener, Matthew (Downers Grove, Ill.: InterVarsity, 1997), 347–49 and other commentators. More general “tribulation” is possible (2 Enoch 9:1; 2 Bar. 51:13–14) but unlikely here; the eschatological test fits better (e.g., 1QM 1.11–12), though (with Beale, Revelation, 433–35) it may be understood as present.

11. Blood notoriously stains what is white (cf. Isa. 1:15, 18), and bathing in blood can function as a metaphor for dying (Sib. Or. 3.696). Though some Asian readers could have wondered if John has adapted the image from the Cybele cult’s use of blood baptisms (cf. e.g., Walter Burkert, Ancient Mystery Cults [Cambridge, Mass.: Harvard Univ. Press, 1987], 6; Gasparro, Soteriology, 107–18; Duthoy, Taurobolium, 126–27), a better background is ritual cleansing with blood (Lev. 14:14–28, 52; 16:19; Ezek. 43:20; Heb. 9:14, 22).

12. Kraybill, Imperial Cult and Commerce, 222, contrasts God’s supply with the imperial dole of food to Rome.

13. The Targum on Isa. 4:2–6 mentions the Messiah (Ford, Revelation, 119), though this may be too late for consideration here. Cf. somewhat similar pictures, without the Isaiah allusion, in 1 Enoch 62:14; T. Abr. 20 A; for God as a present shelter from heat and sun, see Ps. 121:5–6; Sir. 34:19.

14. The background of “scorching heat” may well be the Palestinian sirocco (Ford, Revelation, 121); but the sense of the identical LXX term is usually more neutral (Gen. 8:22; 31:40; 2 Sam. 4:5; cf. Isa. 4:6).

15. For eschatological springs, see (representing wisdom) 1 Enoch 48:1; 49:1; in the afterlife, p. Hag. 2:2, §5; Sanh. 6:6, §2 (depicting paradise conditions; cf. the luxury in Jos. and Asen. 2:12/20).

16. This is also the image of a new exodus (Isa. 35:7–10; 48:21); see also “shepherding” (literally) with the rod of iron in Rev. 2:27; 12:5, and leading the 144,000 in 14:4.

17. To be sure, we know of sheep leading other sheep (Beasley-Murray, Revelation, 149); but this remains distinct from calling a lamb the “shepherd.” Metaphorical uses of “shepherd” exist (Sib. Or. 3.642), but it was an ancient image for leadership (see C. S. Keener, “Shepherd, Flock,” 1090–93 in Dictionary of the Later New Testament and Its Developments, ed. R. P. Martin and P. H. Davids [Downers Grove, Ill.: InterVarsity, 1997]).

18. For eschatological rest from suffering for the righteous, see 2 Thess. 1:7; 1 Enoch 25:6; 2 Enoch 65:9; T. Moses 10:1; Ex. Rab. 23:11; for peace in heaven now, cf. Sifre Num. 42.2.3. This is more than simply the cessation of sorrow (as in Euripides, Alc. 935–38).

19. On herders protecting animals from the sun, see Virgil, Georg. 3.331–34; Longus, 1.8, 25.

20. For warnings against Christian celebrity cultism, see 1 Cor. 3:4–7; Chuck Colson, “The Celebrity Illusion,” CT (Dec. 11, 1987), 72; idem, “The Pedestal Complex,” CT (Feb. 5, 1990), 96. In secular society, few explicitly Christian heroes except the Pope and the late Mother Teresa have ranked high in polls (“Heroes Are Back,” USNWR (Apr. 22, 1985), 44–48).

21. Colson, Kingdoms in Conflict, 85.

22. Blu Greenberg, “Mission, Witness and Proselytism,” 226–39 in Evangelicals and Jews in an Age of Pluralism, ed. Marc H. Tanenbaum, Marvin R. Wilson, and A. James Rudin (Grand Rapids: Baker, 1984), 237.

23. Tony Campolo, Wake Up America (Grand Rapids: Zondervan, 1991), 47–48.

24. Most commentators do accept them as martyrs, including Walvoord, Revelation, 144; idem, Prophecy Knowledge Handbook, 560 (so also Lindsey, New World Coming, 123, though he views them as converts of the 144,000). Aune, Revelation, 2:474, regards it as “a reasonable inference” that at least some of them are (he applies it to all Christians who die before the end, 2:447).

25. Tertullian, Apol. 50.3 (LCL, p. 223).

26. Because of the Lamb’s victory, “death is no longer a horror for the church, but only a passing out of great tribulation (7:14)” (Rissi, Time and History, 110; cf. 2 Cor. 5:8).

27. For where the gospel is growing most rapidly (Latin America, Africa, and much of Asia), see Sharon E. Mumper, “Where in the World Is the Church Growing?” CT (Jul. 11, 1986), 17–21.

28. Often recognized, e.g., Steve Hawthorne, “Laying a Firm Foundation for Mission in the Next Millennium,” Missions Frontiers Bulletin (March 1998), 9–14 (p. 11). For the biblical mandate of reaching people groups, not just individuals, see John Piper, Let the Nations be Glad! The Supremacy of God in Missions (Grand Rapids: Baker, 1993), 169–81.

29. For his emphasis on the indigenous church and partnering with national churches, see Morris O. Williams, Partnership in Mission, rev. ed. (Springfield, Mo.: Morris Williams, 1986).

30. For God’s work in many cultures even before the message of salvation, see Don Richardson, Peace Child (Ventura, Calif.: Regal, 1974).

31. Cecil M. Robeck Jr., “William J. Seymour and ‘the Bible Evidence,’ ” in Initial Evidence: Historical and Biblical Perspectives on the Pentecostal Doctrine of Spirit Baptism, ed. Gary B. McGee (Peabody, Mass.: Hendrickson, 1991), 79–81; cf. H. V. Synan, “Seymour, William Joseph,” 779–81 in Dictionary of Pentecostal and Charismatic Movements, ed. Stanley Burgess, Gary McGee, and Patrick Alexander (Grand Rapids: Zondervan, 1988), 781.

32. Many fine books exist on reconciliation, including Spencer Perkins and Chris Rice, More Than Equals (Downers Grove, Ill.: InterVarsity, 1993); Raleigh Washington and Glenn Kehrein, Breaking Down Walls (Chicago: Moody, 1993); John Dawson, Healing America’s Wounds (Ventura, Calif.: Regal, 1994). For biblical and theological approaches, see the essays in The Gospel in Black and White: Theological Resources for Racial Reconciliation, ed. Dennis L. Okholm (Downers Grove, Ill.: InterVarsity, 1997), including my essay on its centrality in New Testament thought (“The Gospel and Racial Reconciliation,” 117–30).

1. See Ps-Philo 10; also Artapanus in Eusebius, P.E. 9.27.28–33. The plagues also appeared as God’s “war” on Egypt (Pes. Rab Kah. 7:11). For a thorough treatment of a seven-plague tradition in early Judaism, see Aune, Revelation, 2:502–4.

2. Appian, R.H. 6.4.18. Silence may also stem from grief (Achilles Tatius, 1.13.1).

3. Plutarch, T.T. 8.2.1, Mor. 718B.

4. Michaels, Revelation, 117; Beasley-Murray, Revelation, 150; Caird, Commentary on Revelation, 106–7.

5. See Israel Knohl, “Between Voice and Silence: The Relationship Between Prayer and Temple Cult,” JBL 115 (1996): 17–30 (pp. 20–23); Peter Wick, “There Was Silence in Heaven (Revelation 8:1): An Annotation to Israel Knohl’s ‘Between Voice and Silence,’ ” JBL 117 (Fall 1998): 512–14. But given the bleating of sacrificial sheep, etc., the sanctuary itself would not really have been quiet.

6. Bauckham, Climax of Prophecy, 73, seeks earlier evidence in 4QShir Shabb (4Q405 20–22), but most of his early evidence (74–83) is ambiguous. He estimates reasonably that the approximate duration of the morning incense offering (which immediately follows in this vision, 8:3–4) was half an hour (ibid., 83); but was this period standard enough knowledge for Revelation’s first audience to have grasped it?

7. For the seventh seal and trumpet each giving way to the following series of judgment visions, see Ellul, Apocalypse, 44.

8. For silence while listening to another, see Homer, Il. 19.255–56; Apollonus Rhodius, 1.513–15; Virgil, Aen. 10.100–103; 11.241, 300. For opening a court, see Chariton, Chaer. 5.4.9; for silencing a proud interlocutor, see Matt. 22:34; Aulus Gellius, 1.2.13; Demosthenes, On the Crown §112; for not knowing what to say, see Chariton, Chaer. 8.2.12.

9. In reverent worship, Diogenes Laertius, 8.1.33; in awe, Chariton, Chaer. 5.5.9; in shame (Arrian, Alex. 7.8.3; 7.11.2); in mourning (Arrian, Alex. 7.14.8).

10. See further judgment images in Beale, Revelation, 446–52. Ford, Revelation, 134, also notes that 1QpHab 13.2–4 in this way applies Hab 2:20.

11. Cf. also the pause of waters for three hours before the end in 4 Ezra 6:24. The new creation image is the one preferred here by Joachim Jeremias, The Central Message of the New Testament (New York: Charles Scribner’s Sons, 1965), 89; Rissi, Time and History, 4. Though one could parallel the seventh trumpet with the seventh day of creation, the idea of eschatological rest (cf. 14:13; T. Jud. 22:2) is probably not present here.

12. Caird, Commentary on Revelation, 108–10, focuses on trumpets for the day of judgment (cf. also Apoc. Zeph. 9:1), comparing the New Year’s festival; but this comparison is most apt for the final trumpet (10:7; cf. 4 Ezra 6:23–25); Beasley-Murray, Revelation, 154, notes Sinai imagery (Ex. 19:16, 19; 20:18). Cf. heavenly trumpets blown by angels also in Apoc. Moses 37:1–2; T. Abr. 12 A. For a description of the narrow, short silver trumpet, see Josephus, Ant. 3.291.

13. See 2 Chron. 7:6; 29:26; Ezra 3:10; m. Arak. 2:5; R.H. 3:2–4:2; Suk. 5:4; Tam. 7:3. Cf. trumpets at the Sabbath offerings in J. M. Baumgarten, “The Sabbath Trumpets in 4Q493 Mc,” RevQ 12 (1987): 555–59.

14. For trumpets as battle calls, see Num. 10:9; 31:6; Judg. 3:27; 6:34; 1 Sam. 13:3; 1 Macc. 5:31–33; Josephus, War 3.89–91, 265; Livy, 24.46.3; Appian, R.H. 6.9.52; Lucan, C.W. 4.750; Arrian, Alex. 6.3.3. For trumpets at a battle John’s contemporaries would understand as the final one, see Zeph. 1:16; see further Aune, Revelation, 2:519.

15. See Umberto Cassuto, A Commentary on the Book of Exodus, tr. I. Abrahams (Jerusalem: Magnes, 1967), 322; Richard J. Clifford, “Tent of El and Israelite Tent of Meeting,” CBQ 33 (April 1971): 221–27 (p. 226); Keener and Usry, Defending Black Faith, 143, and other sources cited there.

16. Others concur that 8:4 alludes to 6:9–11 (Bowman, First Christian Drama, 61). Roloff, Revelation, 107, objects that most prayer in the book is praise; but John does not use these terms interchangeably. “Smoke” can be positive (15:8) or refer to judgment (9:2–3, 17–18; 14:11; 18:9, 18; 19:3).

17. Talbert, Apocalypse, 40, compares the delivery by angels of saints’ cries for vengeance as a catalyst for God’s intervention in 1 Enoch.

18. For portals in the heavens, see Gen. 7:11; Baal Epic 2.6.25–35. Those in heaven could observe earth in 1 En. 57:2.

19. Including bloody rain (Homer, Il. 16.459; Livy, 24.10.7; 40.19.2; 43.13.5; Appian, C.W. 2.5.36) or stones raining down (Livy, 25.7.7; 26.23.5; 27.37.1, 4; 42.2.4; 43.13.4; 45.16.5; Appian, C.W. 4.1.4). Hail also seems to have functioned as a metaphor for war when so qualified by the context (Virgil, Aen. 9.669–71; Sib. Or. 5.93), though that sense is unlikely here.

20. For eschatological hail, see Sib. Or. 3.691; Ex. Rab. 12:2; for fire, Sib. Or. 5.337–79; 2 Bar. 27:10.

21. On the use of sheep’s and goat’s milk for cheeses, see Longus, 1.23; Epictetus, Disc. 1.16.8; in more detail C. S. Keener, “Milk,” in Dictionary of New Testament Background, ed. Craig Evans and Stanley Porter (Downers Grove, Ill.: InterVarsity, forthcoming).

22. Blood is the first of the plagues listed also in Jub. 48:5; later rabbis said that even the Egyptians’ spittle became blood, and when Israelites gave real water to Egyptians, it became blood in their hands (Ex. Rab. 9:10; Num. Rab. 9:14).

23. Cicero, De Divinatione 1.43.98; Virgil, Aen. 4.453–63; Lives of Prophets 4.20 (§27 in Schermann). Judgment by water appears in Sib. Or. 3.461–62; with reference to the Flood in 1 En. 66:1; 89:5–6; bloody waters serve as a battle metaphor in Isa. 15:9.

24. Cf. here Caird, Commentary on Revelation, 114–15; Ford, Revelation, 133. “Blazing like a torch” (8:10) uses the same wording as 4:5, but unless the “spirits” are angels (cf. comment on 1:4), this is probably simply common imagery. On falling stars as omens of disaster, see Aune, Revelation, 2:520. There may also be an allusion to burning debris affecting bodies of water at the eruption of Vesuvius in A.D. 79, at which over 10,000 people died (ibid.).

25. Lucan, C.W. 1.648; as an end-time omen of disaster, see 4 Ezra 5:9.

26. Where wormwood in the technical sense is meant, it is bitter but not poisonous, and may have narcotic uses (F. Nigel Hepper, Baker Encyclopedia of Bible Plants [Grand Rapids: Baker, 1992], 152).

27. Apocalyptic interpreters’ hermeneutics may have allowed the ceasing of day in Gen. 8:22 to indicate the end of earth. Mark 13:20 refers only to the shortening of the elect’s suffering.

28. Some later rabbis felt this plague of darkness would now focus on Rome (Lev. Rab. 6:6; Pes. Rab. 17:7), though they also claimed the darkness slew the wicked of Israel (Pes. Rab Kah. 5:9; Ex. Rab. 14:3; Num. Rab. 15:12; Song Rab. 2:13, § 1).

29. Ovid. Metam. 2.394–96; 4.200–201; Livy, 40.45.2. Sometimes it would be withdrawn in response to petitions (Homer, Il. 17.644–50). Early Judaism continued to acknowledge darkness as a judgment (Sib. Or. 4.56–58), including eschatologically (Pes. Rab Kah. 9:1; Ex. Rab. 14:3), though sometimes it functioned as a more general metaphor of judgment (Sib. Or. 11.45). Aune, Revelation, 2:523, suggests this fourth plague reverses the creation of celestial lights on the fourth day (Gen. 1:14–19).

30. See 1 En. 91–105 in R. A. Coughenour, “The Woe-Oracles in Ethiopic Enoch,” JSJ 9 (1978): 192–97. “Woes” and laments regularly appear in early Jewish prophetic texts as in the Old Testament (Matt. 11:21; 1 En. 94:6–8; 100:7–9; Sib. Or. 3.319, 480, 483, 492, 504, 508, 512; 11.138; ARN 24 A); cf. Rev. 18:19.

31. On the eagle as a legionary emblem, see Everett Ferguson, Backgrounds of Early Christianity (Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 1987), 40; cf. Josephus, Ant. 17.151. The eagle of 4 Ezra 11:1–12:39 is Rome.

32. Homer, Il. 8.247; 24.315; Od. 2.146; 15.161; 19.543; 20.243; Callimachus, Hymn 1.67–68. Eagles also functioned as divine metaphors in Jewish tradition (Ex. 19:4; see Ben Zion Wacholder and Steven Bowman, “Ezechielus the Dramatist and Ezekiel the Prophet: Is the Mysterious zöon in the Exagōgé a Phoenix?” HTR 78 [July 1985]: 253–77).

33. Beasley-Murray, Revelation, 159. This seems more likely (cf. 19:17) than assuming the middle of various layers of heaven (2 En. 17:1).

34. Other events in this category include the destruction of Jerusalem one generation after Jesus’ crucifixion (Matt. 23:36–24:2, 15, 34) or the restoration of Judah from Babylon (also foretold in preexilic works, e.g., Deut. 4:29–30; 32:36; Jer. 16:15; 27:22; 29:14).

35. E.g., “Hugo Is a Killer,” NW (Oct. 2, 1989), 18–19; “Andrew’s Wrath,” NW (Sept. 7, 1992), 16–21; “Was Andrew a Freak—Or a Preview of Things to Come?” NW (Sept. 7, 1992), 30; “Come Hell or High Water,” NW (Jul. 18, 1994), 26–31; “The ‘Billion-Dollar Flood’ Keeps on Rolling Along,” NW (Jul. 19, 1993), 22–23; “A Deadly Spree for Georges,” NW (Oct. 5, 1998), 38–39. But churches can also be devastated by such storms (e.g., “Andrew Goes to Church,” CT [Oct. 5, 1992], 60; Owen Wilkie, “When Disaster Strikes,” Pentecostal Evangel [Marc. 29, 1987], 13). Note, however, that in God’s sovereignty, some of these same phenomena in other ways contribute to sustaining optimum conditions for life on the planet; see Hugh Ross, “Design Update: Hurricanes Bring More Than Destruction,” Facts & Faith 12/4 (1998): 4–5.

36. For pollution, see “Alaska After Exxon,” NW (Sept. 18, 1989), 50–62; “More Oil on the Waters,” NW (Jun. 25, 1990), 60–61. For shortages, see “How to Make Sure There’s Enough Good Water,” USNWR (Marc. 18, 1985), 65–68; “Mideast Water Wars,” WPR (Jan. 1995), 37–39; “Next, Wars Over Water?” WPR (Nov. 1995), 8–13; “The New Politics of Thirst,” WPR (Nov. 1992), 18–20. For relief work in supplying wells for drinkable water, see World Vision Partners (Spring 1994); World Vision Report (Fall 1995).

37. See H. M. Duncan Hoyte, “The Plagues of Egypt: What Killed the Animals and the Firstborn?” The Medical Journal of Australia 158 (1993): 706–8; Terence E. Fretheim, “The Plagues As Ecological Signs of Historical Disaster,” JBL 110 (1991): 385–96.

38. Their secular framework seems not to predispose them to understand any larger framework for catastrophe than their personal state of grief (see A. J. Conyers, “After the Hurricane,” CT [Nov. 9, 1992], 34–36); but cf. also the opportunities to demonstrate God’s love (“Massive Rebuilding Effort Continues After Andrew,” CT [Jun. 21, 1993], 52).

39. Beasley-Murray, Revelation, 151.

40. Peterson, Reversed Thunder, 87.

41. My words are not intended to challenge the doctrine of individual free will (cf. Rev. 3:19) but to suggest that God is so sovereign (1:8) that he can grant, foreknow, and work through such will, and the broad scope of history reveals his sovereignty.

42. E.g., Del Kingswriter, “Miracles in the Muslim World,” Mountain Movers (May 1992), 12–13; Mohammad, “I Saw Jesus,” Mountain Movers (Nov. 1990), 16–17; Marilyn Ford, “Hadijah,” Mountain Movers (Aug. 1991), 5; “We Met in a Dream,” Arab World Ministries Update (4, 1993): 4.

43. Patrick Johnstone, Operation World: The Day-by-Day Guide to Praying for the World, 5th ed. (Grand Rapids: Zondervan, 1993); these are often available at a discount at InterVarsity’s triennial Urbana missions conventions. On the importance of missions prayer, see David Bryant, In the Gap: What It Means to be a World Christian (Ventura, Calif.: Regal, 1984), 78–80, 221–24.

44. Jehovah’s Witnesses wrongly interpret 8:1–9:21 as “Jehovah’s Plagues on Christendom” (Revelation: Grand Climax, 129–41), when in fact the plagues are against the “world”; but when the church is worldly, we should remember that God’s discipline starts first with his own house (Ezek. 9:6; 1 Peter 4:17).

45. See Gary A. Haugen, Good News About Injustice (Downers Grove, Ill.: InterVarsity, 1999), 84–91, “Hope in the God of Moral Clarity.” This is not to deny that some situations involve varying degrees of innocence and guilt, but to acknowledge with Scripture that some involve innocent victims (Deut. 19:13; 1 Kings 21:19; 2 Kings 21:16; 24:4; Ps. 10:8; 106:38; Isa. 59:7; Jer. 2:34; 7:6; 19:4; 22:3, 17).

46. William D. Eisenhower, “Sleepers in the Hands of an Angry God,” CT (Marc. 20, 1987), 26–28 (p. 26).

47. Sometimes we even deny that disasters will recur in disaster-prone areas where we live; see Eloise Salholz, “Disaster and Denial,” NW (Jul. 26, 1993), 27.

48. See Mark Noll, “Is This Land God’s Land?” CT (Jul. 11, 1986), 14–15.

49. See Walter C. Kaiser Jr., The Old Testament in Contemporary Preaching (Grand Rapids: Baker, 1973), 97–99 (p. 99).

1. Compare Erebus in Greek and Roman myth (though various regions below were mixed; cf. Virgil, Aen. 7.140).

2. See in further detail on this point Beasley-Murray, Revelation, 160–61.

3. Gen. Rab. 10:5; Ex. Rab. 10:1; Koh. Rab. 5:8–9, §§2, 4. Later rabbis recounted a popular story how a frog carried a scorpion on his back across a river so it could kill someone, then transported it back (b. Ned. 41a; Gen. Rab. 10:7).

4. Philo, Mos. 1.130–32.

5. Ford, Revelation, 145, noting also the use of locusts for the scorpion in zodiacs and the long hair on centaurs and Sagittarius; she suggests an army of centaurs. Cf. Apollodorus, 2.4.2.

6. Mounce, Revelation, 196, also noting the German and Italian names for locusts (hay-horse and little horse respectively), and suggesting (n. 21) that the golden crowns may be related to the yellow on their breasts. The proverb compares their antennae with maidens’ hair.

7. For eschatological chariots, see 1 En. 57:1–3.

8. See Robert P. Gordon, “Loricate Locusts in the Targum to Nahum iii 17 and Revelation ix 9,” VetT 33 (July 1983): 338–39.

9. Ford, Revelation, 151.

10. On Parthians’ long hair, see Suetonius, Vesp. 10.23. This also characterized northern barbarians (Dionysius of Halicarnassus, 14.9.4), as well as heroes and divine images of an earlier period (Homer, Il. 2.51; 3.43; Virgil, Aen. 9.638). The Persian army that absorbed Parthia included all males and some women (Herodian, 6.5.3).

11. E.g., Demeter in Pausanias, 8.42.4; terrifying angels in Apoc. Zeph. 4:4; 6:8. Mounce, Revelation, 196, rejects the comparison with locusts’ antennae (made in an Arabian proverb), but admits a possible connection with hair on the locusts’ legs or bodies.

12. Vigorous animal teeth or tusks contributed to visions of terror (Dan. 7:5, 7, 19; Apoc. Zeph. 4:3; 6:8).

13. So Talbert, Apocalypse, 42, citing 1 Enoch 66:1; 2 Enoch 10:3; T. Levi 3:2–3.

14. Herschel H. Hobbs in George, ed., Revelation: Three Viewpoints, 103. Aune, Revelation, 2:530, notes this datum but prefers “five” as a round figure for a small number (1 Cor. 14:19).

15. For the pain of scorpions, see 1 Kings 12:11, 14; 2 Chron. 10:11, 14; Plutarch, Divine Vengeance 20, Mor. 562C. If this is a demonic army, cf. perhaps Luke 10:19, though Luke 10 draws on Ezek. 2:6; scorpions are associated with witchcraft in Sifre Deut. 172.1.1.

16. See Jer. 8:3; Euripides, Medea 96–97, 144–47; cf. perhaps Rev. 6:16.

17. The exclusion of death was sometimes positive (Job 2:6; T. Job 4:4), though it could also represent extended torture (Lucan, C.W. 2.177–80); it did indicate God’s sovereignty (cf. Jos. and Asen. 16:18/13).

18. See 4Q286.10.2.7. See Paul J. Kobelski, “Melchizedek and Melchiresa: The Heavenly Prince of Light and the Prince of Darkness in the Qumran Literature” (Ph.D. diss., Fordham University, 1978), 97. The linking of “destruction” and “abyss” in Gr. Ezra 4:21 might depend on Christian tradition stemming from 9:11. More helpfully, Beale, Revelation, 504, cites Hos. 13:14, which combines Hades, “plagues,” and “destruction” (cf. 9:10).

19. Caird, Commentary on Revelation, 120; Ford, Revelation, 152; esp. Beasley-Murray, Revelation, 162.

20. Commentators routinely recognize the Parthians here, e.g., Tenney, Revelation, 76; Ford, Revelation, 146; Beasley-Murray, Revelation, 164.

21. Virgil, Georg. 4.561; Appian, R.H. pref. 9; Tacitus, Ann. 12.11; 15.7, 16–17; Suetonius, Calig. 14; Chariton, Chaer. 5.1.3; Josephus, War 1.179–80; 2.388–89; 7.105; Ant. 18.101; Sib. Or. 4.120, 124.

22. For Pompey’s involvement, see Appian, R.H. 12.15.105; 12.17.116. Parthians were Rome’s enemies in that period (Sallust, Mithridates 1–23) and long after the first century (Herodian, 6.3.2).

23. Herodian, 4.10.2. Parthians would cross the Euphrates to fight Rome (Lucan, C.W. 8.354–58).

24. For Augustan propaganda, see Horace, Epistle 2.1.256; Od. 1.12.53; 1.21.13–16; 3.5.3–4; 3.8.19–20; 4.25–27; Epode 7.9–10. For later struggles, see Tacitus, Ann. 13.34–41; 15.1–18, 24–31; Suetonius, Tib. 41.

25. For the information in this paragraph, see Horace, Epistle 2.1.112; Ode 1.19.12; 4.15.23; Lucan, C.W. 2.552; 10.48–51; Martial, Epig. 2.53.10.

26. See Meeks, Moral World, 29.

27. Aulus Gellius, 15.4.4.

28. Later rabbis claimed Rome was wealthier but Persia mightier (ARN 28A), and debated whether Rome or Persia would emerge victorious (b. Yoma 10a).

29. Or in Hades (Apoc. Zeph. 6:15); or Tartarus or Gehenna (Sib. Or. 1.101–3; Ps-Philo 60:3; T. Sol. 6:3); some texts even place their prison in the second heaven (2 Enoch 7). Some Jewish traditions circulating in John’s day spoke of “angels that bring punishment,” releasing the subterranean waters to bring a flood (1 Enoch 66:1).

30. This was especially emphasized a century before John (Virgil, Georg. 3.31; Horace, Od. 2.13.18; Propertius, Elegies 2.10.13–14). See Aune, Revelation, 2:533, for ancient depictions of the Parthians’ “armored cavalry.”

31. Caird, Commentary on Revelation, 122.

32. Aune, Revelation, 2:539, documenting thoroughly.

33. Sulfur appears in various judgments (e.g., Sib. Or. 3.462).

34. See Homer, Od. 11.634–35; cf. Apuleius, Metam. 11.3.

35. The pattern of judgment on one-third (8:7–12; 9:13–19) does not appear in other Jewish end-time works, but may loosely recall Ezek. 5:2, 12 (see Aune, Revelation, 2:500, 519). Most important, it signifies God’s mercy and distinguishes these judgments intended to invite repentance from the final judgment to come.

36. For angels of judgment in Jewish texts (including Enoch’s Similitudes), see Aune, Revelation, 2:538.

37. Beasley-Murray, Revelation, 165.

38. Abraham J. Malherbe, Moral Exhortation: A Greco-Roman Sourcebook, LEC 4 (Philadelphia: Westminster, 1986), 86, on Hierocles. On suffering as divine education in ancient thought, see Talbert, Apocalypse, 43.

39. Dionysius of Halicarnassus, 7.68.2.

40. See ARN, 32A; b. Erub. 19a.

41. Beale, Revelation, 466, notes that Jewish interpreters understood that they invited repentance for Egypt (citing Philo) and indeed for all humanity (citing Josephus).

42. Also Test. Job 3:3; Test. Sol. 5:5; 6:4; Sifre Deut. 318.2.1–2; Athenagoras, 26. This view may have been shared by Zoroastrians (A. T. Olmstead, History of the Persian Empire [Chicago: Phoenix Books, Univ. of Chicago Press, 1959], 96, 195).

43. “Magic arts” literally includes potions (and poisons), normally used against other people (or to seduce them). Judaism officially rejected this practice (Sib. Or. 3.225), but it must have been common in Roman Asia (Acts 19:19; cf. Rev. 18:23).

44. Ryrie, Revelation, 61.

45. Lindsey, New World Coming, 138–39. Sorcerers are reputed to send literal animals to attack their enemies (John S. Mbiti, African Religions and Philosophies [Garden City, N.Y.: Doubleday, 1970], 261–62).

46. Bowman, First Christian Drama, 67.

47. Less than twenty years after Revelation was written the Romans defeated Parthia in another major war; see sources in Robert K. Sherk, ed., The Roman Empire: Augustus to Hadrian, TDGR 6 (New York: Cambridge Univ. Press, 1988), 168–77. Prophecy teachers often envision a revival of the Roman empire to fulfill—or perhaps, re-fulfill?—Dan. 7:23–24, but this interpretation of that empire’s revival started, not surprisingly, before the demise of the Holy Roman Empire and has continued by tradition since then.

48. Much earlier the Euphrates divided Jacob from Laban (Gen. 31:21) and David’s territory to the north (Gen. 15:18; 2 Sam. 8:3; 1 Chron. 18:3), but many Jews now lived across the Euphrates (Josephus, War. 1.5, 179; b. B.M. 28a).

49. Lindsey, New World Coming, 140–41.

50. Michaels, Revelation, 130, after noting some regimes that have made Americans nervous, adds contemporary fears about space aliens. Though I am inclined to see little positive value in contemporary horror movies (even of the science fiction variety), they may provide some helpful illustrations for communicating Revelation’s emotional impact here.

51. Lindsey, New World Coming, 141.

52. Lindsey’s one-for-one correspondence of some details (like fire coming forth), while ignoring other details that cannot fit his modern equivalents, is admittedly too prosaic. Some other images of horror less bound to specific features of John’s images may communicate the equivalent impact more easily.

53. See, e.g., The Ku Klux Klan: A History of Racism and Violence, 4th ed., ed. Sara Bullard (Montgomery, Ala.: Klanwatch, Southern Poverty Law Center, 1991), 22; the account of a friend in YWAM about the effects of the murder of three Catholic children in Northern Ireland in summer 1998. Right-wing terrorists in the Oklahoma City bombing and Muslim extremists in the Nairobi embassy bombing both weakened their causes at least in the short run.

54. On these movements, most of whose members are conservative Protestants, see Richard Abanes, American Militias: Rebellion, Racism and Religion (Downers Grove, Ill.: InterVarsity, 1996), 87–97. More specifically on Elizabeth Clare Prophet and her Church Universal and Triumphant, see Joe Szimhart, “Lambs to Slaughter—An Insider’s Report of Cultic Bondage,” SCP Newsletter 19/3 (Winter 1995): 1, 9, 13–14.

55. Cf. the ancient images of (usually) demonic psychopomps assigned to escort the wicked to hell (T. Asher 6:4–5; 3 Enoch 44:2; Apoc. Zeph. 4:2–4; Questions of Ezra 15 A; Sifre Deut. 357.11.2; probably adapted from paganism—Egyptian Book of Dead Spell 1, S5; Diogenes Laertius, 8.1.31; cf. further Erwin R. Goodenough, Jewish Symbols in the Greco-Roman Period, 13 vols. [New York: Pantheon for Bollingen Foundation, 1953–68], 12:149–52), though omitted in the biblical picture (Luke 16:22–23).

1. Aune, Revelation, 2:499, suggests a parallel with the discussion of Passover in Ex. 12:1–18, placed between the ninth and tenth plagues.

2. See Dan. 10:6; 2 Enoch 14:3; 19:1; 3 Enoch 14:5; 22:4; 26:2–7; 35:2; T. Abr. 12 A; see also comment on Rev. 1:14–16. This glory appears widely enough (cf. Ford, Revelation, 158) so that no identity between this angel and Jesus in 1:13–16 is necessary (Beale, Revelation, 524–25, takes this as Christ as the Old Testament “angel of the LORD”); the “lion’s voice” in 10:3 also need not allude to Jesus in 5:5 (cf. 4:7).

3. Both evil angels (1 Enoch 7:2; T. Reub. 5:6) and good ones (3 Enoch 9:2; 22:3; 33:3; 35:2; b. Hag. 13b). This resembled Greek portraits of massive deities (Apollonus Rhodius, 2.679–82; Babrius, 68; Callimachus, Hymn 6.57–58; Apollodorus, 1.6.3) and demons (Homer, Il. 4.440–43; Longinus, Sublime 9.4) as well as semidivine giants.

4. On the supporting pillars, see Homer, Od. 1.52–53. For the “pillars of Heracles,” cf. e.g., Appian, R.H. 6.1.1; 12.14.93; for Atlas see Aeschylus, Prometh. Bound 350–52. Comparing legs with pillars emphasized their strength (Song 5:15).Aune, Revelation, 2:556, points out multiple parallels with the Colossos of Rhodes in Asia, a 105-foot tall bronze statue of the sun god; although notstanding in this period, it was widely known.

5. Though one normally held an open book in both hands, ancient art often portrayed it in one hand, especially if reading had been interrupted (Aune, Revelation, 2:558); also, the book may be quite “little” by comparison with this massive angel.

6. Beasley-Murray, Revelation, 171–72.

7. For this last view see Michaels, Revelation, 134. Against the view that the thunders represent a distinct source taken over by Revelation, see Friedrich W. Horn, “Die sieben Donner, Erwägungen zu Offb 10,” SNTU 17 (1992): 215–29.

8. For parallels in ancient revelatory literature to one thing remaining hidden, see especially Aune, Revelation, 2:562–63.

9. Chariton, Chaer. 3.2.5. “Raising the hand” actually means “swearing” in Hebrew idiom (cf. Ex. 6:8; Num. 14:30; Ezek. 20:5–6).

10. See Oscar Cullmann, Christ and Time, tr. F. V. Filson (Philadelphia: Westminster, 1950), 49; Rissi, Time and History, 24. Aune, Revelation, 2:568, prefers the nuancing of “the time will be up.”

11. For such language describing the fulfillment of prophecy, cf. Sib. Or. 3.698–700.

12. Eating the book, like measuring the temple in 11:1–2, probably occurs only in the visionary realm. The author of 4 Ezra 14:38–41, 45 also applies Ezekiel’s image to the Spirit’s empowerment. Later teachers applied Ezekiel’s experience to the study of the law (William Barclay, Train Up a Child [Philadelphia: Westminster, 1959], 12–13). Angels often provide explanations (e.g., 3 Bar. 9:5), and what tastes good but proves bitter may have been proverbial (Prov. 5:3–4; cf. Diogenes Laertius, 6.2.61). Cf. Num. 5:23.

13. Cf. also Aune, Revelation, 2:572, for the Greek idiom of “sweet” speech.

14. Ezekiel also gave oracles to the nations (Ezek. 25–32), as did other prophets (Isa. 13–23; Jer. 25:15–38; 46:1–51:64); but the particular scroll in Ezek. 3:1 addresses Israel. Though John technically prophesies here only to seven urban church communities, his message will be spread by others (see David Hill, “Prophecy and Prophets in the Revelation of St John,” NTS 18 [July 1972]: 401–18 [pp. 417–18]). For prophetic inspiration concerning all peoples, see Sib. Or. 3.162–64, 297–99, 518–19.

15. Cf. Geoffrey Hodson, Clairvoyant Investigations (Wheaton, Ill.: Theosophical Publishing House, 1984); R. Gustav Niebuhr, “Long unemployed, angels now have their work to do: as guardians, especially, they are popular with people, religious and otherwise,” Wall Street Journal 73 (Ma. 12, 1992): 1, 6.

16. See “Are There ‘Treasures Hid in the Sand’?” Pentecostal Evangel (Jan. 5, 1986), 13.

17. Inscribed on Heritage Hall at Livingstone College, Salisbury, N.C. (cf. Ps 30:5).

1. Beasley-Murray, Revelation, 37–38, 176–77; cf. Helmut Seng, “Apk 11,1–14 im Zusammenhang der Johannesapokalypse: Aufschluss aus Lactantius und Hippolytus,” Vetera Christianorum 27 (1990): 111–21. Similar language (including “trampling”) would suit a literal Gentile desecration of the temple (1 Macc. 3:45; 4:60; 2 Macc. 8:2; 3 Macc. 2:18; Judith 9:8; Ps. Sol. 2:2; CD 1.3–4; T. Jud. 23:3; Luke 21:24), which might stem from judgment (2 Bar. 8:1). If there was an oracle, it may have been a Jewish-Christian one, stemming from the time of Caligula (cf. 2 Thess. 2:4) or the late 60s (cf. Mark 13:14).

2. So Lindsey, New World Coming, 156 (who suggests that it may be rebuilt after the Rapture, 160).

3. Rissi, Time and History, 99.

4. Caird, Commentary on Revelation, 132; Metzger, Breaking the Code, 70; Talbert, Apocalypse, 44. The Dead Sea Scrolls also sometimes portrayed their community as a house or temple (see Bertril Gärtner, The Temple and the Community in Qumran and the New Testament [Cambridge: Cambridge Univ. Press, 1965], 16–46), regarding the literal temple in Jerusalem as spiritually defiled (e.g., CD 4.18; 5.6–7; 1QpHab 9.4–10.1).

5. Talbert, Apocalypse, 45.

6. Caird, Commentary on Revelation, 152; Beale, Revelation, 557–65. Michael Bachmann, “Himmlisch: der ‘Tempel Gottes’ von Apk 11.1,” NTS 40 (July 1994): 474–80, applies 11:1 to a heavenly temple.

7. Aune, Revelation, 2:598, identifying the survivors with his interpretation of the 144,000.

8. Heinrich Schlier, Principalities and Powers in the New Testament (New York: Herder & Herder, 1961), 72, seems to view the outer court as the earthly Jerusalem as opposed to the heavenly.

9. Beasley-Murray, Revelation, 182, thinks that it symbolizes the unbelieving world. If the courts symbolize assimilated Christians, lesser purity may constitute the primary focus.

10. Petersen, Preaching in the Last Days, 151. On the physical nature of such a rod when used literally, see Ford, Revelation, 168.

11. With Talbert, Apocalypse, 44; see the frequent use of the measuring rod in Ezek. 40:3–42:20 (LXX). The suggested parallel in Lev. 16 (Kenneth A. Strand, “An Overlooked Old Testament Background to Revelation 11:1,” AUSS 22 [1984]: 317–25) lacks the measuring rod.

12. Cf. the expectation of a new (literal) temple in early Judaism (see E. P. Sanders, Jesus and Judaism [Philadelphia: Fortress, 1985], 77–90), an image that may be reinterpreted here.

13. See Petersen, Preaching in the Last Days, passim; for the Reformers, who saw a revival of prophecy in their own day, see ibid., 59–87.

14. Moses also appears as a lampstand in some Jewish texts (Sifre Num. 93.1.3), and later as one of the anointed ones of Zech. 4:14 (Ex. Rab. 15:3).

15. Scholars have long noted that Revelation sometimes reapplies old prophecies in new ways (e.g., Wesley, Commentary on the Bible, 594).

16. Bauckham, Climax of Prophecy, 169, cites Josephus, Ant. 4.326; Clement of Alexandria, Strom. 6.15.2–3. Josephus tones down Elijah’s ascent, however (Ant. 9.28).

17. See Asc. Isa. 3:10. See here esp. Bauckham, Climax of Prophecy, 169–70. Although rooted in Elijah’s ministry (1 Kings 18:38; 2 Kings 1:10–14; Lives of Prophets 21:2), fire from heaven became a standard means of judgment attributed to the pious (T. Abr. 10A; 12B; Jos. and Asen. 25:6/7); some rabbis also reportedly disintegrated the disrespectful with their gaze (b. B.B. 75a; Shab. 34a; Pes. Rab Kah. 11:16; 18:5; Gen. Rab. 79:6). Unsolicited fire or lightning from heaven appears as confirmation in Ex. 40:38; Plutarch, Aemilius Paulus 24.1; p. Hag. 2:1, §§4, 9; Song Rab. 1:10, §2; as judgment in Diodorus Siculus, 4.67.2; 16.83.2; Dionysius of Halicarnassus, 3.35.2; 9.6.5; Pausanias, 9.25.10; cf. Lev. 10:2; Num. 16:35; 1QM 17.2–3; Josephus, Ant. 4.55–56.

18. Lindsey, New World Coming, 162–63; Frost, Matthew Twenty-Four, 212. Daniel K. K. Wong, “The Two Witnesses in Revelation 11,” BibSac 154 (July 1997): 344–54, prefers two literal end-time witnesses but whose identity is yet unknown, coming with Elijah’s and Moses’ power.

19. For summaries of views, see Ford, Revelation, 177–78; Petersen, Preaching in the Last Days, 13. Elijah’s return appears pervasive in early Judaism (Mal. 4:5–6; Sir. 48:10; Sifre Deut. 41.4.3; 342.5.2; Mark 9:11).

20. For Moses, see Sifre Deut. 357.10.5; ARN, 12A; cf. T. Moses 11:8; contrast 1 Enoch 89:38. Probably Enoch’s and Elijah’s martyrdom in Apoc. Elij. 4:7–19 reflects a later Jewish-Christian interpretation of the tradition in Rev. 11:3–7; others cite the eschatological appearance of Moses and Elijah in later rabbis (T. Francis Glasson, Moses in the Fourth Gospel [Naperville, Ill.: Alec R. Allenson, 1963], 27, 69).

21. Corsini, Apocalypse, 193–98; cf. similar interpretations some have offered concerning Moses and Elijah in Mark 9:4.

22. John Randall, The Book of Revelation: What Does It Really Say? (Locust Valley, N.Y.: Living Flame, 1976), 71.

23. González, Revelation, 72.

24. Bowman, First Christian Drama, 71; Hill, New Testament Prophecy, 89; Bauckham, Climax of Prophecy, 166, 273–75; Michaels, Revelation, 1–38; Talbert, Apocalypse, 45–46; Aune, Revelation, 2:631; Beale, Revelation, 572–75; cf. Newton, Observations, 286. Mounce, Revelation, 218, thinks they represent the end-time church.

25. As seven lampstands together signify the entire church, so here the two (Beasley-Murray, Revelation, 184), underlining the church’s role as witnesses (Num. 35:30; Deut. 17:6; Bauckham, Climax of Prophecy, 274).

26. That some of the Qumran scrolls emphasize an anointed priest as well as prophet in the end-time (e.g., 1QS 9.11; 4Q540) reinforces the probability that John reapplies a widespread end-time image in a new way here. The royal and priestly components of Zech. 4:3–14 were obvious enough (Pes. Rab. 8:4).

27. E.g., Strombeck, Rapture, 185.

28. 1,260 is the sum of even numbers up to 70, and 42 of even numbers up to 12. Further, 1,260 is the thirty-fifth rectangular number (corresponding to the square 1,225), and 42 the sixth rectangular number (corresponding to the square 36, which is the triangular root of 666); after 1, the first and second numbers that are both squares and triangular numbers are 36 and 1,225, respectively. The rectangular number after 1,260 is 1,332 (used for the Tribulation in Asc. Isa. 4:12, 14), the corresponding triangle of which is 666 (Bauckham, Climax of Prophecy, 401–3).

29. Bauckham, Climax of Prophecy, 170.

30. This remained the pattern in John’s day (e.g., 11QTemple 61:6–7; 64:8; CD 9.3–4, 17–23; Josephus, Life 256; Ant. 4.219; b. Sanh. 37b, baraita), including among Christians (Matt. 18:16; 2 Cor. 13:1; 1 Tim. 5:19).

31. In the Old Testament, see Isa. 20:2; Jer. 6:26; Lam. 2:10; Joel 1:13; later, 1 Macc. 2:14; Jos. and Asen. 10:14/16; 13:2. It remained appropriate for prophets living apart from a wicked society (Asc. Isa. 2:10).

32. In early Judaism, see 1QM 1.4. This language also applies to the Messiah’s warring against Beliar (T. Dan 5:10), or the wicked trying to war against God (Gen. Rab. 38:6).

33. Cf. this possible understanding in Qumran’s pesher interpretation (e.g., 1QpHab passim). Pagan oracles also freely recycled images (H. W. Parke, Sibyls and Sibylline Prophecy in Classical Antiquity, ed. B. C. McGing [New York: Routledge, 1988], 15).

34. See Ford, Revelation, 180; Rissi, Future of the World, 55–56. A population of 70,000 (11:13) also fits Jerusalem better than Rome (Beasley-Murray, Revelation, 177; Aune, Revelation, 2:628).

35. See also Bruce, “Spirit,” 339; Bauckham, Climax of Prophecy, 168–69; Roloff, Revelation, 133. See Fee’s understanding of “spiritual” in Paul as “of the Spirit” (Gordon D. Fee, God’s Empowering Presence: The Holy Spirit in the Letters of Paul [Peabody: Hendrickson, 1994], 28–31).

36. Some interpreters view this city as a symbol of the world rather than simply Jerusalem in particular (e.g., Bowman, First Christian Drama, 71; Caird, Commentary on Revelation, 138; Beale, Revelation, 591–92). In this case Aune, Revelation, 2:619–20 (cf. also 587), may well be right that an earlier end-time tradition about Jerusalem has been here reapplied. Rome boasted a large international population (11:9; Aune, Revelation, 2:621).

37. Rome also fancied itself “greatest of cities” (see references in Aune, Revelation, 3:959).

38. See Isa. 5:25; Sophocles, Antig. 21–30, 697; Virgil, Aen. 9.485; Tacitus, Ann. 6.29; Petronius, Sat. 112. That they lie in the public “street” (11:8) underlines the shame and contrasts with the glorious street of the end-time city (21:21; 22:2).

39. See in greater detail Bauckham, Climax of Prophecy, 281–82. Because Jewish people annually celebrated Purim, the allusion to Esther 9 would not be obscure. Aune, Revelation, 2:623, details the regular Greco-Roman practices surrounding gift exchanges, especially prominent on the Roman festivals of Saturnalia and Kalends.

40. Some take the three and a half days as “a limited time, but shorter than three and a half years” (Talbert, Apocalypse, 46). Coptic Apoc. Elij. 4:7–15 probably borrows its story (Enoch and Elijah lie three and a half days in the marketplace and are raised up) from this passage. Both “7000” (11:13) and a resurrecting spirit of life (11:11) appear in T. Abr. 17–18A.

41. “Spirit of life” may also relate to raising the dead in 1 Enoch 61:7; T. Abr. 18A; to life in general in T. Reub. 2:4. “Standing on one’s feet” was sometimes an initial confirmation of resuscitation (2 Kings 13:21; Ezek. 37:10; Mark 5:42; cf. Luke 7:15; John 11:44).

42. The ascent may allude again to the image of Elijah (2 Kings 2:11; Rev. 11:6), though ascent traditions apply also to Enoch and Moses in early Jewish texts (1 Enoch 39:3; Josephus, Ant. 4.326), or to divinized mortals in pagan myth (Ovid, Metam. 14.824–28; Diogenes Laertius, 8.2.68; Phaedrus, 4.12.3); Aune, Revelation, 2:626–27, also mentions witnesses and atmospheric or seismic phenomena in Greco-Roman rapture accounts. The voice and cloud may allude to traditions about the church’s rapture (1 Thess. 4:16–17) as well as Jesus’ exaltation (Acts 1:9; cf. Rissi, Time and History, 103).

43. Esp. from Rom. 11, belief in an end-time conversion of Jewish people persisted in some circles through most of church history: e.g., the Dominican Humbert of Romans in a 1272 treatise (Humbert of Romans, “Objections to the Crusades Answered,” Christian History 40 [1993]: 20–21); nineteenth-century premillennialist Lord Shaftesbury (John Wolffe, “Dismantling Discrimination,” Christian History 53 [1997]: 37–39 [38]).

44. See most fully Bauckham, Climax of Prophecy, 282–83, who believes it is the suffering of the remnant that brings the others to repentance (others, e.g., Caird, Commentary on Revelation, 140, see the 7000 as killed in retribution for the death of the remnant). A tenth remnant appears in Jub. 10:9, though for fallen angels.

45. Petersen, Preaching in the Last Days, 168, 231. Sectarian groups experience the same temptation; Jehovah’s Witnesses applied the 1260 days literally to their testing during World War I (Oct. 1914–1918) (Revelation: Grand Climax, 162, 164); they view the city of 11:8 as Christendom (ibid., 168).

46. “A Gallery of Factions, Friends & Foes,” Christian History 4 (1985): 13–16 (p. 14).

47. See this critique in Michaels, Interpreting Revelation, 141.

48. On evangelism including Jewish people, see Vernon C. Grounds, “The Problem of Proselytization,” 199–225 in Evangelicals and Jews in an Age of Pluralism, ed. M. H. Tanenbaum, M. R. Wilson, and A. J. Rudin (Grand Rapids: Baker, 1984); from nonmessianic Jewish perspectives, see in the same book Blu Greenberg, “Mission, Witness, and Proselytism,” 226–39; and Sanford Seltzer, “Mission, Witness, and Proselytization: A Jewish View,” 240–54.

49. On the mushrooming size of the movement, see information in Gary Thomas, “The Return of the Jewish Church,” CT (Sept. 7, 1998), 62–69; being in Philadelphia, I have many friends at Beth Yeshua, where the photographs were taken.

50. On this history, see Edward H. Flannery, The Anguish of the Jews: Twenty-three Centuries of Anti-Semitism (New York: Macmillan, 1965); James Parkes, The Conflict of the Church and the Synagogue: A Study in the Origins of Antisemitism (New York: Atheneum, Temple Books, 1979); Adriaan H. Bredero, Christendom and Christianity in the Middle Ages, tr. R. Bruinsma (Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 1994), 274–318. Christian anti-Judaism originated in pre-Christian Roman paganism, often imported into the church along with other pagan aspects of the converts’ cultures; see J. N. Sevenster, The Roots of Pagan Anti-Semitism in the Ancient World, NovTSup 41 [Leiden: E. J. Brill, 1975]).

51. See Vernon C. Grounds, “Dare to Be a Micaiah,” CT (Marc. 18, 1988), 24–25.

52. See Robert E. Coleman, The Master Plan of Evangelism (Huntingdon Valley, Pa.: Christian Outreach, 1963).

53. George G. Hunter, III, “The Key Strategy: Finding the Bridges of God,” 28–40 in Church Growth: Strategies That Work, by Donald McGavran and George Hunter III (Nashville: Abingdon, 1980), 29–30, following J. Waskom Pickett, Christian Mass Movements in India (New York: Abingdon, 1933), 45.

54. Donald A. McGavran and Winfield C. Arn, Ten Steps to Church Growth (San Francisco: Harper & Row, 1977), 96.

55. See more fully Craig Keener, 3 Crucial Questions About the Holy Spirit (Grand Rapids: Baker, 1996), 35–37; idem, The Spirit in the Gospels and Acts: Divine Purity and Power (Peabody, Mass.: Hendrickson, 1997), 200–201. On the association of prophecy and the Spirit in early Judaism, see Keener, Spirit in the Gospels, 10–13.

56. See Jack Deere, Surprised by the Power of the Spirit (Grand Rapids: Zondervan, 1993), esp. 45–56; Keener, 3 Questions, 81–127. On power encounters, see Contemporary Significance section on 13:13.

57. See also this observation in Jack Deere, Surprised by the Voice of God (Grand Rapids: Zondervan, 1996), 88.

1. This promise drew on the earlier promise of David’s eternal throne (Ps. 89:29, 36; 132:12) and fits the Son of Man prophecy (Dan. 7:14). C. F. D. Moule, The Birth of the New Testament (New York: Harper & Row, 1962), 23, finds here and in 19:6–8 Christian enthronement psalms.

2. E.g., 1QM 1.5–6; T. Moses 10:1.

3. See Gen. Rab. 95 (MSV); on the two ages, see 4 Ezra 7:50; tos. Taan. 3:14; Sifre Num. 115.5.7; Sifre Deut. 29.2.3; cf. A. J. Ferch, “The Two Aeons and the Messiah in Pseudo-Philo, 4 Ezra, and 2 Baruch,” AUSS 15 (1977): 135–51; John J. Collins, The Sibylline Oracles of Egyptian Judaism, SBLDS 13 (Missoula, Mont.: Society of Biblical Literature, 1972), 320, 358–59.

4. E.g., Wisd. 5:15; 4 Ezra 7:98; m. Ab. 2:2; Sifra A.M. par. 8.193.1.11; Sifra Behuq. pq. 2.262.1.9; see most fully Morton Smith, Tannaitic Parallels to the Gospels (Philadelphia: Society of Biblical Literature, 1951), 163–84. Jewish teachers often emphasized doing good for its own sake rather than the reward (Sifre Deut. 48.6–7; see M. Brocke, “Tun und Lohn im nachbiblischen Judentum: Ein Diskussionsbeitrag,” Bibel und Leben 8 [1967]: 166–78).

5. This continued in early Jewish usage (see Bar. 1:4).

6. E.g., Demosthenes, Against Zenothemis 6; Aulius Gellius, 7.4.4; Sir 27:25–27; Jub. 4:32; 1QpHab 12.5–6; m. Ab. 2:7; see further Aune, Revelation, 2:646.

7. See more fully on such points Meredith G. Kline, Treaty of the Great King: The Covenant Structure of Deuteronomy (Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 1963), 24; John Pairman Brown, “The Ark of the Covenant and the Temple of Janus. The Magico-Military Numen of the State in Jerusalem and Rome,” BZ 30 (1986): 20–35. Torah arks would have been in public view in most synagogues (see Rachel Hachlili, “The Niche and the Ark in Ancient Synagogues,” BASOR 223 [Oct. 1976]: 43–53 [p. 53]).

8. The opening of heaven often symbolizes revelations (1 Enoch 34:2; 2 Bar. 22:1; see comment on 4:1).

9. Most ancient readers would have recognized the association, even where implicit, between prophecy and the Spirit (see Craig Keener, The Spirit in the Gospels and Acts [Peabody, Mass.: Hendrickson, 1997], 10–13).

10. For some ecological issues (to use modern terms) in rabbinic texts, see Gerhard Langer, “Pflanzen, Schützen und Bewahren—eine ökologische Ethik der Rabbinen,” Bibel und Liturgie 64 (1991): 86–92.

11. For Christian environmentalist perspectives, see World Christian (April 1990), whole issue; William Dyrness, “Are We Our Planet’s Keeper?” CT (Apri. 8, 1991), 40–42; “Eco-Myths” and other articles in CT (Apri. 4, 1994), 16–33; Lionel Basney, An Earth-Careful Way of Life (Downers Grove, Ill.: InterVarsity, 1994); and most regularly, Creation Care magazine (Wynnewood, Pa.; formerly Green Cross magazine). To make such statements is not to affirm the agendas of neopagan religion associated with some extreme environmentalists; on this see SCP [Spiritual Counterfeits Project] Journal 16/1 (1991) and 17/3 (1992); Tod Connor, “Is the Earth Alive?” CT (Jan. 11, 1993), 22–25.

12. See several articles in NW (Jun. 1, 1992).

13. Gregg Easterbrook, “A House of Cards,” NW (Jun. 1, 1992), 24–33 (p. 33); he expects Western nations to attend to this issue far less because it affects “only the abstract legions of the brown, distant poor.”

14. “The Global Poison Trade,” NW (Nov. 7, 1988), 66–68; Franz Schurmann, “Third World Becomes Garbage Dump for the West,” National College Newspaper (Oct. 1988), 9.

15. “A State’s Well-Oiled Injustice,” WPR (Jan. 1996), 14–15 (data taken from a British weekly).

16. Detlef Pypke, “Partners in Crime?” WPR (Jan. 1996), 16 (data taken from a German newsmagazine).

17. Tim Ledwith, “Nigeria’s Year of Shame,” Amnesty Action (Winter 1997), 3.

18. “The Making of a Legend,” NW (Dec. 18, 1995), 47. See his own account of detention in “Notes From a Gulag,” WPR (Oct. 1995), 40–41.

19. Pypke, “Partners”; “Nigeria Defies the World,” Amnesty Action (Winter 1996), 5. Note that Royal Dutch/Shell includes the U.S. Shell Oil Company, but the latter had no operations of its own in Nigeria (letter to the author from G. C. Goodier, Shell Oil Company [Ma. 1, 1996]).

1. Aune, The New Testament in Its Literary Environment, 242. Some find seven signs in this central section, but John explicitly refrains from numbering them here (Caird, Commentary on Revelation, 105–6); Ford prefers six (Revelation, 47).

2. “Signs” are typically the symbolic language of prophetic assurances (e.g., Isa. 8:18; 20:3; 37:30; Jer. 44:29; Ezek. 4:3; 12:6, 11; 24:24, 27), though cf. Aratus, Phaen. 46.

3. Wesley, Commentary on the Bible, 604–5.

4. See Balaji Mundkur, “The Roots of Ophidian Symbolism,” Ethos 6 (Fall 1978): 125–58; idem et al., “The Cult of the Serpent in the Americas: Its Asian Background,” Current Anthropology 17 (Sept. 1976): 429–41.

5. See Plutarch, Divine Vengeance 33, Mor. 568A; 3 Bar. 9:3; Herm. Vis. 1.1.1–9; 2.8.1. The use in Shepherd of Hermas is unusual, apparently developing the image in a more sexually conscious direction (see comments in C. S. Keener, “Marriage, Divorce and Adultery,” 712–17 in Dictionary of the Later New Testament and Its Developments [Downers Grove, Ill.: InterVarsity, 1997], 713–14).

6. On the woman here, see in further detail C. S. Keener, “Woman and Man,” 1205–15 in Dictionary of the Later New Testament and its Developments, 1209–10. For divine Wisdom, see G. H. Dix, “The Heavenly Wisdom and the Divine Logos in Jewish Apocalyptic,” JTS 26 (Oct. 1924): 1–12 (p. 2).

7. Ellul, Apocalypse, 85. Earth does appear as “mother” not only in Greco-Roman paganism (Homeric Hymn 30.1; Apollonius Rhodius, 3.716; Virgil, Aen. 6.595; Ovid, Metam. 1.393; Gr. Anth. 7.461) but also in 4 Ezra 5:50; 10:9–14 and Philo, Creation 133, but 4 Ezra more often emphasizes Zion as mother (9:41–10:24). Her twelve-star headdress may symbolize cosmic rule or significance by way of the zodiac (a common symbol even among ancient Jews), but this spells identity with the cosmos only to a pantheist; she is no more the cosmos than Joseph is Helios, the sun-god, in Jos. and Asen. 5:5/6.

8. See Tobit 13:9; 4 Ezra 9:38–10:59 (esp. 10:7); 2 Bar. 3:1–3; Gal. 4:26. “Mother-cities” were those that founded others, hence capitals of empires (Dionysius of Halicarnassus, 3.11.1–2; 3.23.19), and Philo applied this to Jerusalem (Embassy 281; cf. Isa. 1:26 LXX, though the LXX uses the title more loosely). Mother images also apply to Sarah (Isa. 51:2; Philo, Cong. 6) and Wisdom (Sir. 15:2). For Jerusalem’s personification, see also Ps. Sol. 1.

9. Such cosmological imagery appears elsewhere for the patriarchs (T. Abr. 7A; 7B; T. Naph. 5:3–5).

10. Peter Paul James, “Mary and the Great Sign,” American Ecclesiastical Review 142 (May 1960): 321–29; N.-D. O’Donoghue, “A Woman Clothed with the Sun,” Furrow 11 (1960): 445–56; J. Edgar Bruns, “The Contrasted Women of Apocalypse 12 and 17,” CBQ 26 (Oct. 1964): 459–63. Some hold this view by way of secondary application: Feuillet, Apocalypse, 115; idem, “Le chapitre XII de l’Apocalypse: Son caractère synthétique et sa richesse doctrinale,” Esprit et Vie 88 (1978): 674–83.

11. Among those who reject the Marian exegesis here are Ford, Revelation, 207; Caird, Commentary on Revelation, 149; L. Stefaniak, “Mulier amicta sole (Apok 12,1–17),” Ruch Biblijny i Liturgiczny 9 (1956): 244–61. The Marian interpretation does not appear to predate the sixth century A.D. (Beale, Revelation, 629 n. 29).

12. Charles Hauret, “Ève transfigurée de la Genèse à l’Apocalypse,” RHPR 59 (1979): 327–39; including connections with Mary, see Elio Peretto, “María Donna in Gv 2,3–4; 19,26–27; Ap 12,1–6: Ipotesi di lettura continuativa in prospettiva ecclesiale,” Ephemerides Mariologicae 39 (1989): 427–42.

13. See Matthew Black, The Scrolls and Christian Origins (London: Thomas Nelson & Sons, 1961), 149; John Pryke, “Eschatology in the Dead Sea Scrolls,” 45–57 in The Scrolls and Christianity, ed. Matthew Black (London: SPCK, 1969), 50–51; Schuyler Brown, “Deliverance From the Crucible: Some Further reflexions on 1QH iii.1–18,” NTS 14 (1968): 247–59. Various sources refer to pain in childbirth (e.g., Ovid, Metam. 9.292–304; Life of Adam 19:1–20:3), including Old Testament judgment oracles (e.g., Ps. 48:6; Isa. 13:6–8; 21:3; 26:17–19; 42:14; Jer. 4:31; 6:24; 13:21; 22:23; 30:6; 31:8; 48:41; 49:22, 24; 50:43; Hos. 13:13). Some think 1QH 3.7–12 more specifically refers to the birth of a Messiah; see the debate between Lou H. Silberman, “Language and Structure in the Hodayot (1QH 3),” JBL 75 (June 1956): 96–106; William H. Brownlee, “Messianic Motifs of Qumran and the NT, II,” NTS 3 (1956–1957): 195–210.

14. Cf. also 1QH 3.28 for God’s wrath against Belial, in the context of the new community (3.7–12) and Belial’s torrents (3.29, 32; cf. Rev. 12:15).

15. Baal Epic 67.1.1–3 in ANET, 138; J. Philip Hyatt, “Canaanite Ugarit” BA 2 (Feb. 1939): 1–8 (p. 8); Walter C. Kaiser, “The Ugaritic Pantheon” (Ph.D. diss., Brandeis University, 1973), 112, 132–33, 214. The dragon’s seven heads are the seven ages in which Death devastates the world in T. Abr. 19A.

16. On giant serpents or dragons, see e.g., Philostratus, V.A. 3.6–8; p. Ned. 3:2, §1.

17. Lucian, Alexander the False Prophet 12–14; Pausanias, 2.27.2. Serpents are connected with Hera in Diodorus Siculus, 4.10.1; Zeus in Homer, Il. 12.208–9; Ares in Ovid, Metam. 3.31–32; the Furies in Virgil, Aen. 7.346–55; Ovid. Metam. 4.454, 475, 491–99; Medusa, in Ovid, Metam. 4.617–20; and especially Athena in Plutarch, Isis 71, Mor. 379D. Egyptians revered crocodiles (Plutarch, Isis 75, Mor. 381B), though Greeks regarded them negatively (Artemidorus, Oneir. 3.11). For snake cults in the East see Ramsay MacMullen, Enemies of the Roman Order (Cambridge, Mass.: Harvard Univ. Press, 1966), 118.

18. Satan in Wisd. Sol. 2:24; 3 Bar. 9:7; as Sammael in Targum Ps-Jon. Gen. 3:6 (Martin McNamara, Targum and Testament [Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 1972], 121); the devil used the serpent in Apoc. Mos. 16:1, 5. For the association of serpents or dragons with demons, see 1 En. 69:12; 2 Bar. 10:8; Luke 10:19; with witchcraft in Horace, Sat. 1.8.33–35; PGM, 4.662–64, 2426–428, 2614.

19. Early Christians applied the same image of conquest to Christ’s victory (Ode Sol. 22:5), as they also viewed him as the sacred child conqueror (Sib. Or. 8.196–97).

20. See 1 Enoch 60:7–8; 2 Bar. 29:4; Pes. Rab Kah. Sup. 2:4 (though cf. plural leviathans in Apoc. Abr. 10:10; b. B.B. 74b). Leviathan takes on demonic connotations in Aramaic incantation texts 2.3–4; 6.8. Virgil, Ecl. 4.24 expected serpents to perish in the future era.

21. See Roland Bergmeier, “Altes und Neues zur ‘Sonnenfrau am Himmel (Apk 12)’: Religionsgeschichtliche und quellenkritische Beobachtungen zu Apk 12:1–17,” ZNW 73 (1982): 97–109; Koester, Introduction, 1:188. Dragons also appear in Babylon tradition (as Jews recognized, e.g., Bel and the Dragon 23–27). For divine mothers, see Gail Paterson Corrington, “The Milk of Salvation: Redemption by the Mother in Late Antiquity and Early Christianity,” HTR 82 (Oct. 1989): 393–420.

22. For the dragon’s significance for a variety of ancient cultures, see Ivan M. Benson, “Revelation 12 and the Dragon of Antiquity,” Restoration Quarterly 29 (1987): 97–102. The theme in Greek myth is as early as the Titan Kronos’s swallowing his children to prevent his overthrow (Hesiod, Theog. 459–64).

23. Ray Summers, “Revelation 20: An Interpretation,” RevExp 57 (1960): 176–83; Caird, Commentary on Revelation, 148; Beasley-Murray, Revelation, 191; Elisabeth Schüssler Fiorenza, “The Revelation to John,” 99–100 in Hebrew-James–1 & 2 Peter-Jude-Revelation, ed. G. Krodel (Philadelphia: Fortress, 1977), 111. The dragon may be Rome in Ps. Sol. 2:25–26, as successor of Babylon and Egypt (Beale, Revelation, 632–33). A divinely chosen boy’s birth characterizes propaganda from Augustus’s reign (cf. Virgil, Ecl. 4; Wilfred L. Knox, St. Paul and the Church of the Gentiles [Cambridge: Cambridge Univ. Press, 1939], 18–19).

24. For the righteous becoming stars in the afterlife or future era, see Dan. 12:3; 1 En. 104:2; 4 Macc. 17:5; 2 Bar. 51:10; Ps-Philo 33:5; for comparisons in the present, see 1 En. 43:1–4; Sifre Deut. 47.2.5, 8; b. Ber. 56b; cf. Jos. and Asen. 2:6/11.

25. See 1 Enoch 6:7 (Aramaic); 8:3; 18:14–16; 20:4; 21:3, 6; 80:6–8; 86:1–4; 88:3; 2 Enoch 7:3; 29:4–5 rec. J; 31 rec. J; 2 Bar. 51:10; T. Sol. 20:16–17. Isa. 24:21 was understood to refer to end-time judgment of celestial powers that stand behind earthly kings. Beale, Revelation, 636–37, plausibly proposes that the stars are both people(s) and the angels who represent them in heaven (cf. Rev. 1:20).

26. As gods, Cicero, De Nat. Deor. 2.15.39–40; De Re Publica 6.15.15; Seneca, Benef. 4.23.4; 1 Enoch 80:7–8; as souls in Plato, Timaeus 41E; Philo, Giants 7–8; 4 Macc. 17:5; as angels, 1QM 10.11–12; 2 Enoch 4:1; 29:3A; 3 Enoch 46:1; 2 Bar. 51:10; Philo, Plant. 12–14; Pes. Rab Kah. 1:3; associated with demons, T. Sol. 2:2; 4:6; 5:4; 6:7; 7:6; ch. 18. Some preferred naturalistic explanations (Varro, 5.10.59; Diogenes Laertius, 7.1.152–53). Stars participate in the final battle and fall to earth in Sib. Or. 5.512–31 (perhaps written close to John’s time).

27. Most commentators hold that Christ is in view here, including dispensational writers like Walvoord, Revelation, 189–90.

28. In early Christian texts, when the word harpazo (trans. “snatched up” here) applies to divine activity, it typically means lifting (Acts 8:39), even to heaven (2 Cor. 12:2, 4; 1 Thess. 4:17).

29. Others (e.g., Caird, Commentary on Revelation, 149–50) also find the cross here. Beale, Revelation, 648–49, finds a spiritual sanctuary in this “place” (cf. Dan. 8:11; Matt. 24:15, but the word topos is used far more broadly; the parallel in John, however, may support this sense (cf. the “Father’s house” in 14:2).

30. Perhaps 1,260 days is preferable to Daniel’s 1,290 because the days are shortened (Mark 13:20), perhaps because of a Jewish tradition (Ruth Rab. 5:6), or perhaps for numerical reasons. Three and a half years was a historic period of Israel’s oppression (e.g., Josephus, War 1.19) reapplied to other, analogous periods (Lam. Rab. 2:2, §4).

31. With Rissi, Time and History, 38, 117; Bowman, First Christian Drama, 78; Beale, Revelation, 646–47; cf. A. Kassing, “Das Weib das den Mann gebar (Apk 12,13),” Benediktinische Monatschrift 34 (1958): 427–33; for the figure in 12:14, see Rissi, Time and History, 112. Bauckham, Climax of Prophecy, 185, calls this transformation of Jewish expectation “unprecedented.”

32. See Craig Keener, Matthew (Downers Grove, Ill.: InterVarsity, 1997), 348–49, and sources cited there.

33. The Qumran texts reapply Daniel’s language in quite different ways (cf., e.g., 1QM 1.4 in Yigael Yadin, The Scroll of the War of the Sons of Light Against the Sons of Darkness, tr. B. and C. Rabin [Oxford: Oxford Univ. Press, 1962], 180). Cf. F. F. Bruce, “Qumran and Early Christianity,” NTS 2 (Feb. 1956): 176–90 (p. 177); D. S. Russell, The Method and Message of Jewish Apocalyptic (Philadelphia: Westminster, 1964), 198–201. For three and a half years elsewhere, see Josephus, War 1.19; p. Taan. 4:5, §10; Ruth Rab. 5:6; Lam. Rab. Proe. 25, 30; Lam. Rab. 2:2, §4.

34. The accumulation of such terms suited the day of judgment (1 Enoch 60:6), but commentators normally agree that the cross and resurrection are in view (Schlier, Principalities, 49).

35. Though I do not currently think it the most natural way to construe the narrative, it is possible to read it as if it refers to a literal future three and a half years that are merely stated next because they carry out the logical conclusions of Jesus’ victory (Walvoord, Revelation, 191). But even in this case, we could probably all agree that the practical implications would remain the same: that the Tribulation would so impinge on the present that it would function as if potentially present.

36. For further detail, see, e.g., F. F. Bruce, “Qumrân and Early Christianity,” NTS 2 (1956): 176–90 (p. 177). For the new exodus in Rev. 12, see especially Beale, Revelation, 643–45.

37. That the celestial combat corresponds to the earthly work of Christ is often observed (see Ellul, Apocalypse, 87; Caird, Commentary on Revelation, 153; idem, Apostolic Age, 98 n. 5). For the popular ancient image of expulsions from heaven (including Greek legends about the Titans), see Aune, Revelation, 2:699.

38. But Qumran also viewed all human existence as a spiritual conflict between the princes of light and darkness (1QS 3.20–21). Beale, Revelation, 653, suggests that the heavenly army in Josephus, War 6.297–99, may correspond to the Romans on earth.

39. See 1QM 17.6; b. Yoma 77a; more fully see Otto Betz, Der Paraklet Fürsprecher im Häretischen Spätjudentum, im Johannes-Evangelium und in neu Gefundenen Gnosticischen Schriften, AGJU 2 (Leiden: Brill, 1963), 149–58. Guardian angels also protected individuals from demons (Sifre Num. 40.1.5; cf. 1 En. 40:7, 9). In Revelation, however, Michael is not connected solely with ethnic Israel, as in some Jewish views (3 Enoch 44:10; 1QM 17:6–7; T. Moses 10:2).

40. The Greek expression for “lost their place” in 12:8 is the same dramatic expression found in 20:11.

41. See b. Yoma 20a; Lev. Rab. 21:4; Num. Rab. 18:21; Pes. Rab. 45:2, 47:4; for Satan as accuser, see Jub. 48:15–16; 3 Enoch 14:2; 26:12; Gen. Rab. 38:7; 84:2; Ex. Rab. 31:2; Lev. Rab. 21:10; Koh. Rab. 3:2, §2; for other accusing angels, 1 Enoch 40:7; 3 Enoch 4:6–7; 28:8; Apoc. Zeph. 3:8–9; 6:17; Pes. Rab Kah. 24:11. “Satan” originally meant “accuser,” but even in the Old Testament and Jewish tradition, Satan’s position depended on God’s permission (Job 1:12; 2:6; T. Job 8:1–3; 16:4/2; 20:3).

42. Loving not life even to death was appropriate for war heroes (Judg. 5:18). Death in battle was viewed as noble (e.g., Demosthenes, Or. 60, Funeral Speech 19) and one might promise to be ready to die for a leader like Caesar (IGRR 3.137), but the conquerors in our text triumph precisely by martyrdom. On the Greek motif of dying for a cause, see Aune, Revelation, 2:703.

43. Cf. Rissi, Time and History, 25; pace some commentators, Revelation appears to use these two words roughly synonymously. Jewish hopes longed for the devil’s final defeat (T. Moses 10:1); the summons for the heavens to rejoice is a literary form for a promise of triumph (Rev. 19:7; 1 Enoch 105:2; T. Moses 10:8).

44. Cf. Jewish expressions about God’s patronage as the sheltering “wings of the Presence” (e.g., Ruth 2:12; Ps. 17:8; 36:7; 63:7; 91:4; 1 Enoch 39:7; 2 Bar. 41:4; ARN, 12A; Sifre Num. 80.1.1). The eagle here is not likely Rome (4 Ezra 11:1–12:39; see comment on Rev. 8:13), nor are the wings likely God’s commandments (b. Ber. 53b) or his enmity (Jer. 48:40; 49:22). Jer. 48:9 uses wings figuratively for flight, though from judgment. Greeks might envision metamorphosis stories as in their mythology (cf. Aune, Revelation, 2:704–6).

45. 1QH 3.29, 32, applies figuratively the image of Belial’s torrents (see other sources in Beale, Revelation, 672); he would attack Israel in the time just before the end (CD 4.12–13).

46. Other objects, whether trees (p. Sanh. 10:2, §6) or the deep (Ps-Philo 26:4), also “swallowed” things at God’s command; in Ovid, Metam. 5.639–41, the earth opens to allow water to escape its pursuer. It is possibly relevant that Cain as the serpent’s seed struck Abel, but the earth, which “opened its mouth” to Abel’s blood, helped Abel’s case (Gen. 4:10–11; cf. Sib. Or. 3.696–97). In one form of the Leto myth the earth helps the women (Beasley-Murray, Revelation, 192); earth also helps a divine savior in Hesiod, Theog. 459–64.

47. Greek stories likewise recognized the principle that the removal of a defender, even by ascension, rendered more vulnerable this patron’s dependents (Apollodorus, 2.8.1 in Aune, Revelation, 2:708).

48. R. A. Martin, “The Earliest Messianic Interpretation of Genesis 3:15,” JBL 84 (1965): 425–27, argues that the Septuagint may preserve a messianic interpretation of Gen. 3:15.

49. Lindsey, New World Coming, 78.

50. The Christian view requires faith in Jesus as a prerequisite for true holiness, whether a person is Jewish or Gentile.

51. Most commentators do accept them as believers in general (e.g., Hill, New Testament Prophecy, 81; George E. Ladd, The Blessed Hope [Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 1956], 98–99). Early Christian tradition expected the Antichrist figure to persecute the saints (Apoc. Elij. 4:20–29).

52. For various views about the development of doctrine in the church, see Peter Toon, The Development of Doctrine in the Church (Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 1979). Divided between minimalists and maximalists concerning Mary’s mediatorial role, the Second Vatican Council avoided a firm stance (G. C. Berkouwer, The Second Vatican Council and the New Catholicism [Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 1965], 226–38; Walter M. Abbott, ed., The Documents of Vatican II [New York: Guild, 1966], 86–93, articles 53–63). Catechism of the Catholic Church (Mahwah, N.J.: Paulist, 1994), 122–28, affirms Mary’s sinlessness but does not mention her mediation; for one survey of various views about Mary in diverse cultures, cf. George H. Tavard, The Thousand Faces of the Virgin Mary (Collegeville, Minn.: Liturgical, 1996).

53. See Geoffrey Barraclough, The Medieval Papacy (New York: W. W. Norton, 1968), 13–37. If Damasus (366–84) was the first bishop of Rome to claim “papal” authority (cf. Henry Chadwick, The Early Church [Baltimore: Penguin, 1967], 160–64), this was long after the bishops of different patriarchal sees had risen (ibid., 51, 131).

54. On OT roots for spiritual warfare, see Gregory Boyd, God at War: The Bible and Spiritual Conflict (Downers Grove, Ill.: InterVarsity, 1997), 73–167.

55. In context, James 4:7 and Eph. 4:27 apply to resisting the devil by standing against the world’s moral values; 1 Peter 5:9 applies to withstanding persecution, as in Rev. 12:11. Against this, see Kenneth Hagin, I Believe in Visions (Old Tappan, N.J.: Revell, 1972), 83–84; idem, Authority of the Believer (Tulsa, Okla.: Kenneth E. Hagin Evangelistic Association, 1978), 19–20; idem, Demons and How to Deal with Them (Tulsa, Okla.: Kenneth E. Hagin Evangelistic Association, 1977), 25—works that have influenced hundreds of thousands of Christians. Mal. 3:11, sometimes cited (Kenneth Copeland, The Laws of Prosperity [Fort Worth, Tex.: Kenneth Copeland Publications, 1974], 81), simply refers to God withholding locusts from one’s crops!

56. The practice of cursing Satan that Jude opposes seems to have been widely known (1QM 13.1–2; 4Q280–87; Life of Adam 39:1), and some others also opposed it (Sir. 21:27; b. Kid. 81ab).

57. Believers are not called to “cast down territorial spirits”; see Clinton E. Arnold, 3 Crucial Questions About Spiritual Warfare (Grand Rapids: Baker, 1997), 143–98.

58. On Luke 10, see the interpretation in George E. Ladd, The Gospel of the Kingdom (Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 1959), 49–50; idem, A Theology of the New Testament (Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 1974), 67, 625–26. For Mark 3, see Craig S. Keener, The Spirit in the Gospels and Acts (Peabody, Mass.: Hendrickson, 1997), 106.

59. Lindsey, New World Coming, 179.

60. Trans. by Herbert Musurillo, “The Martyrdom of Perpetua,” Christian History 17 (1988): 32–33 (p. 33).

61. On some right-wing movements’ misapplications of biblical texts, see Richard Abanes, American Militias (Downers Grove, Ill.: InterVarsity, 1996), 87–97; for their infiltration of some conservative evangelical circles, see ibid., 191–221. Many are preparing to fight in Armageddon (e.g., Kyle, The Last Days, 161).

62. The two comings of Christ seem to have provided an apologetic problem for second-century Christians in dialogue with Judaism (see Justin, 1 Apol. 52, 111; Ep. Barn. 7; Tertullian, Apol. 21.15; adv. Jud. 14).

63. Arnold, Questions About Spiritual Warfare, 28–29. In the United States, two novels especially popularized a renewal of interest in spiritual warfare and the importance of prayer as part of it; see Frank E. Peretti, This Present Darkness (Westchester, Ill.: Crossway, 1986); idem, Piercing the Darkness (Westchester, Ill.: Crossway, 1989).

64. F. F. Bruce, The Message of the New Testament (Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 1981), 85.

65. John W. Kennedy, “Bittersweet Cuban Memories,” CT (Jan. 12, 1998), 24.

66. Graham, Approaching Hoofbeats, 39.

1. For Leviathan in the sea, see 4 Ezra 6:52. Rome rises from the sea in 4 Ezra 11:1; for the messianic figure from the sea in 4 Ezra 13:1, 52, see Gregory K. Beale, “The Problem of the Man From the Sea in IV Ezra 13 and Its Relation to the Messianic Concept in John’s Apocalypse,” NovT 25 (1983): 182–88. Some associate the sea with evil (Caird, Commentary on Revelation, 161), but it probably refers to Rome’s location across the sea (Ramsay, Letters to the Seven Churches, 103–4; cf. Caird, Commentary on Revelation, 162).

2. See also Sifre Deut. 317.4.2; 320.2.3; p. Taan. 2:5, §1; Pes. Rab Kah. 12:25; Midr. on Ps 40, §4; cf. similar Greek typologies of world empires (E. C. Lucas, “The Origin of Daniel’s Four Empires Scheme Re-Examined,” TynBul 40 [1989]: 185–202; D. Mendels, “The Five Empires: A Note on a Propagandistic Topos,” American Journal of Philology 102 [1981]: 330–37. If the fourth beast was Greece, as some think (cf. Sib. Or. 8.6–11), the application to Rome is nevertheless understandable (Chrys C. Caragounis, “Greek Culture and Jewish Piety: The Clash and the Fourth Beast of Daniel 7,” ETL 65 [1989]: 280–308, attributes it to Rome’s absorption of Hellenistic culture). Christian interpreters, including Jerome, have viewed the fourth empire as Rome, though many modern critical scholars insist on the Seleucids because they date Daniel late and deny predictive prophecy (Lewis, Questions, 106).

3. Sand appears as a metaphor for God’s people in Gen. 22:17; Isa. 10:22; 48:19; cf. 2 Chron. 1:9; T. Abr. 1.15–16; 4; 8A. But it is also a natural image by the “sea” (13:1).

4. See George E. Ladd, A Theology of the New Testament (Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 1974), 626; Feuillet, Apocalypse, 55; Michaels, Revelation, 158; Tremper Longman III, Daniel, NIVAC (Grand Rapids: Zondervan, 1999), 190; cf. Beale, Revelation, 685. In rabbinic parables “dangerous beasts represent the enemies of Israel, or the sufferings they cause” (Robert M. Johnston, “Parabolic Interpretations Attributed to Tannaim” [Ph.D. diss., Hartford Seminary Foundation, 1977], 595).

5. The Canaanite myth of Lotan, on which the biblical imagery draws, mentions seven heads (Baal 67.1.AB 1 in ANET, 138; J. Philip Hyatt, “Canaanite Ugarit,” BA 2 [Feb. 1939]: 1–8 [p. 8]; Walter C. Kaiser, “The Ugaritic Pantheon” (Ph.D. diss., Brandeis, 1973], 132–33, 212–13). In 4 Ezra 11:1, Rome has three heads. For comments on Leviathan and the beast here, see Howard Wallace, “Leviathan and the Beast in Revelation,” BA 11 (Sept. 1948): 61–68.

6. This language of boasting or arrogance is applied to early antichrist figures like Antiochus Epiphanes and Pompey (1 Macc. 1:24; Ps. Sol. 17:13). The same term for “blasphemy” applies to “slander” against the saints in Rev. 2:9; see comment on 13:6.

7. See Caird, Commentary on Revelation, 163; Beasley-Murray, Revelation, 209; Ramsay, Letters to the Seven Churches, 94; Aune, Revelation, 2:734.

8. Bauckham, Climax of Prophecy, 424–27.

9. Kraybill, Imperial Cult and Commerce, 161–65; Bauckham, Climax of Prophecy, 423–31, 441–44; C. H. Dodd, The Apostolic Preaching and Its Developments (London: Hodder & Stoughton, 1936), 39; Eduard Lohse, The New Testament Environment, tr. J. E. Steely (Nashville: Abingdon, 1976), 206; William Barclay, “Great Themes of the New Testament: V. Revelation xiii,” ExpTim 70 (1959): 260–64, 292–96; Bowman, First Christian Drama, 87; Caird, Commentary on Revelation, 164–65; Bo Reicke, The New Testament Era, tr. D. E. Green (Philadelphia: Fortress, 1974), 243; F. F. Bruce, 1 & 2 Thessalonians, WBC 45 (Waco, Tex.: Word, 1982), 182; idem, New Testament History (Garden City, N.Y.: Doubleday, 1972), 402; Aune, Revelation, 2:737–40; but contrast Beale, Revelation, 690–92.

10. Tacitus, Ann. 15.44; Tertullian, Apol. 5.3–4; see Harold Mattingly, Christianity in the Roman Empire (New York: W. W. Norton, 1967), 31–32; Murray J. Harris, “References to Jesus in Early Classical Authors,” 343–68 in The Jesus Tradition Outside the Gospels, ed. D. Wenham, vol. 5 of Gospel Perspectives (Sheffield: JSOT, 1984), 5:348–50. Nero was widely known for evil deeds (e.g., Dio Cassius, 61.2.1–63.4).

11. This belief has long been noted, e.g., F. Crawford Burkitt, The Church and Gnosis: A Study of Christian Thought and Speculation in the Second Century (Cambridge: Cambridge Univ. Press, 1932), 21.

12. The date depends on Suetonius’s estimate. Paul Trudinger, “The ‘Nero Redivivus’ Rumour and the Date of the Apocalypse of John,” St Mark’s Review 131 (1987): 43–44, dates Revelation to A.D. 68–69 to accommodate the expectation (Martin Bodinger, “Le myth de Néron. De l’Apocalypse de saint Jean au Talmud de babylone,” RHR 206 [1989]: 21–40, dates an original Jewish Revelation to this period and suggests it was retained in the later edition), but it remained just as alive two and three decades later.

13. One oracle predicts that Beliar (Satan) will come from the imperial line (Sib. Or. 3.63). False rumors of a wounded ruler’s death sometimes circulated (Livy, 42.16.1–9).

14. See Larry Kreitzer, “Hadrian and the Nero Redivivus Myth,” ZNW 79 (1988): 92–115.

15. Beasley-Murray, Revelation, 211. Cf. explicitly Victorinus in the third century; on the Nero Antichrist tradition in early Christian texts (including Tertullian, Apol. 5; Augustine, Civitas Dei 20.19; Jerome, Dialogue 21.4), see Miriam T. Griffin, Nero: The End of a Dynasty (New Haven: Yale Univ. Press, 1984), 15.

16. Dionysius of Halicarnassus, 4.59.2; 4.61.2; Dio Cassius, frag. in Zonaras, 7.11.

17. So also others, e.g., Caird, Commentary on Revelation, 165.

18. Cf. the Roman leader in 390 B.C. hailed as “a Romulus,” a second founder of Rome (Livy, 5.49.7); or the spirit of Pompey settling in Brutus and Cato to slay Caesar (Lucan, C.W. 9.15–18). Some wrongly feared Titus would prove a new Nero (Suetonius, Titus 7).

19. Bauckham, Climax of Prophecy, 449.

20. Corsini, Apocalypse, 15–16, 231.

21. Michaels, Revelation, 157.

22. See Caird, Commentary on Revelation, 164; Bauckham, Climax of Prophecy, 452.

23. Cf. the similar parody in Judith 6:2–3; Sir. 33:5, 10. For various parodies of Christ in the Antichrist, see Bauckham, Climax of Prophecy, 431–41; Cullmann, The State in the New Testament (New York: Charles Scribner’s Sons, 1956), 75. Cf. implications of imitation in Gr. Ezra 4:35; Sib. Or. 3.66.

24. Kraybill, Imperial Cult and Commerce, 28.

25. See Bauckham, Climax of Prophecy, 445.

26. On such desecrations and earlier ones, see 1 Macc. 3:45; 3 Macc. 1:29; 2:14; 2 Bar. 5:1; T. Asher 7:2; tos. Suk. 4:28; CD 4.17–18; Keener, Matthew, 348–49.

27. On emperors in military form, see Griffin, Nero, 221–34.

28. With Caird, Commentary on Revelation, 167; Beasley-Murray, Revelation, 213.

29. For subduing “all the earth” see Jer. 27:6–8; Dan. 4:22; 7:23; Jdt. 2:7, 19; 6:4; 11:1, 7; 3 Macc. 6:5. Alexander had tried to fuse all cultures into one (Michael Avi-Yonah, Hellenism and the East [Jerusalem: Hebrew Univ. Press, 1978], 20–21).

30. James M. Scott, “Luke’s Geographical Horizon,” 483–544 in The Book of Acts in Its Graeco-Roman Setting, ed. D. W. J. Gill and C. Gempf (Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 1994), 491, citing the Res Gestae Divi Augusti 29.2; 32.2. Likewise, the Greek historian Polybius (1.1–2, 64) claimed that the Romans controlled “nearly” the whole world after the fall of Carthage, obviously excluding the Parthians and others outside the Mediterranean. Cf. similar language in Sallust, Catil. 36.4; Appian, R.H. Preface 7; Cornelius Nepos, 18.3.3–4; 23.8.3.

31. Commentators cite somewhat analogous language in 1 Enoch 62; Assumption of Moses 1:14. “From the creation” in v. 8 is closer in the sentence to “slain,” but some prefer to link it with “written” (Vincent Taylor, The Atonement in New Testament Teaching [London: Epworth, 1945], 41).

32. E.g., Ps. Sol. 9:4; Sifre Deut. 319.3.1; cf. Sirach in Gabriele Boccaccini, Middle Judaism: Jewish Thought 300 B.C.E. to 200 C.E. (Minneapolis: Fortress, 1991), 105–9; see also David Winston, “Freedom and Determinism in Greek Philosophy and Jewish Hellenistic Wisdom,” Studia Philonica 2 (1973): 40–50; idem, “Freedom and Determinism in Philo of Alexandria,” Studia Philonica 3 (1974–1975): 47–70. Even Essenes, who were heavily predestinarian (e.g., 1QS 10.1ff.; cf. 1 Enoch 1:1–3, 8; 5:7–8; 25:5; 38:4; 48:1, 9; 50:1; 58:1; 61:4, 12; 93:2; Jub. 11:17) did not deny free will (F. Nötscher, “Schicksalsglaube in Qumrân und Umwelt (2. Teil),” BZ 4 [1960]: 98–121; E. P. Sanders, Judaism: Practice and Belief, 63 BCE–66 CE [Philadelphia: Trinity Press International, 1992], 251), pace Josephus, Ant. 18.18.

33. The textual variant, referring in the active voice to those who “kill with the sword,” would definitely not refer to the saints, but the textual evidence is not clear.

34. For similar language applicable to judgments, cf. Jub. 24:32.

35. Michaels, Revelation, 1–60; see Oscar Cullmann, The State, 84.

36. Cf. George Eldon Ladd, The Gospel of the Kingdom (Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 1978), 37: “The Beast of Revelation 13 is both actual historical Rome and the future eschatological Antichrist.”

37. See F. F. Bruce, “The History of New Testament Study,” 21–59 in New Testament Interpretation: Essays on Principles and Methods, ed. I. Howard Marshall (Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 1977), 34.

38. Kyle, The Last Days, 71.

39. Lindsey, New World Coming, 186–88.

40. The modern division of Asia from Europe and Africa stems from ancient Greek tradition but is not based on clear geographical boundaries or enduring cultural continuums; see Glenn Usry and Craig Keener, Black Man’s Religion (Downers Grove: InterVarsity, 1996), 41–44.

41. Views like Tertullian’s, disallowing military service, prevailed for the first three centuries, but provided less guidance for the sort of relationship between church and state that existed after Constantine (Robert A. Krupp, “Risky Lifestyles,” Christian History 51 [1996]: 40–41 [p. 41]).

42. Leonard Gross, “Showing Them How to Die, How to Live,” Christian History 4 (1985): 22–25 (p. 23).

43. “Did You Know?” Christian History 4 (1985): 6.

44. J. Stephen Lang, “Martyrs and Architects,” Christian History 46 (1995): 33–35 (p. 34).

45. This has implications for those who try to enforce Christ’s values merely through the world’s power; see Charles Colson, Kingdoms in Conflict (Grand Rapids: Zondervan, 1987), 265–75.

46. See further John J. Collins, The Sibylline Oracles of Egyptian Judaism, SBLDS 13 (Missoula, Mont.: SBL, 1972), ch. 1.

47. Cf. Cullmann, The State, 75; Ellul, Apocalypse, 93–94; Corsini, Apocalypse, 231.

48. For imprisonment of Christians refusing to serve in the military under apartheid, see ESA Advocate (Nov. 1989), 11–12; (May 1991), 11–12. For other Christian antiapartheid protests, see articles in World Christian (July 1986); “Church Leaders Condemn Apartheid,” CT (Dec. 17, 1990), 54; ESA Advocate (May 1990), 11–12; (June 1990), 11–13; an African nun detained for months without trial in ESA Advocate (March 1991), 11.

49. See John Dear, “The Solitary Witness of Franz Jagerstatter,” Sojourners (Aug. 1993), 7; on Bonhoeffer, see Christian History 32 (1991), passim.

50. Charles Colson, Kingdoms in Conflict (Grand Rapids: Zondervan, 1987), 152.

51. Charles Colson, Loving God (Grand Rapids: Zondervan, 1987), 27–34.

52. For depictions of spirit-possession in anthropological literature, see Felicitas D. Goodman, How About Demons? Possession and Exorcism in the Modern World (Bloomington, Ind.: Indiana Univ. Press, 1988); Ari Kiev, ed., Magic, Faith, and Healing: Studies in Primitive Psychiatry Today (New York: Free Press, Macmillan, 1964), passim.

53. Cf. C. S. Lewis, The Screwtape Letters, rev. ed. (New York: Macmillan, 1982).

54. See Iris Chang, “Exposing the Rape of Nanking,” NW (Dec. 1, 1997), 55–57.

55. Andrew Sung Park, Racial Conflict and Healing: An Asian-American Theological Perspective (Maryknoll, N.Y.: Orbis, 1996), 12–15.

56. Dorothy Sterling, ed., We Are Your Sisters: Black Women in the Nineteenth Century (New York: Norton, 1984), 115.

57. Gary Haugen, Good News About Injustice (Downers Grove, Ill.: InterVarsity, 1999), 111.

58. Rissi, Time and History, 72, speaks of “making the world into the church of the Antichrist (13:3f.; 12, 15).”

59. See, e.g., Tim Stafford, “Campus Christians and the New Thought Police,” CT (Feb. 10, 1992), 15–20; John G. Stackhouse Jr., “PC: Almost Correct?” CT (Nov. 23, 1992), 17; Lynda Hurst, “Censorship for the Kindergarten Set,” WPR (June 1993), 46–47; R. Judson Carlberg, “Culture of Disrespect,” CT (Jun. 20, 1994), 18–19; Ginni Freshour, “When It’s Wrong to Be Right,” InterVarsity Summer (1994), 4–6; David Gates, “It’s Naughty,” NW (Oct. 10, 1994), 73–75; S. D. Gaede, When Tolerance Is No Virtue (Downers Grove, Ill.: InterVarsity, 1993).

60. George F. Will, “Intolerable Tolerance,” NW (Ma. 11, 1998), 94.

61. David Kaplan, “Is It Torture or Tradition?” NW (Dec. 20, 1993), 124.

62. Appreciation of cultural diversity need not obscure moral absolutes; see Ricardo L. García, “Educating for Human Rights: A Curricular Blueprint,” Multicultural Education for the Twenty-first Century, ed. Carlos Díaz (Washington, D.C.: National Education Association, 1992), 167–68; Stephen A. Grunlan and Marvin K. Mayers, Cultural Anthropology: A Christian Perspective (Grand Rapids: Zondervan, 1979), 12–13.

63. Beasley-Murray, Revelation, 213.

1. E.g., Bowman, First Christian Drama, 87; Beasley-Murray, Revelation, 216–17.

2. Ramsay, Letters to the Seven Churches, 97, 103–4; Caird, Commentary on Revelation, 171. Others think it refers to the imperial priesthood through the empire (e.g., Bauckham, Climax of Prophecy, 446). For two beasts in some mythic schemes, see Beasley-Murray, Revelation, 215.

3. Feuillet, Apocalypse, 55.

4. Beasley-Murray, Revelation, 216; cf. Bowman, First Christian Drama, 87. Peterson, Reversed Thunder, 123, describes it as “a clumsy counterfeit” of the true Lamb. Dragons were thought to make hissing sounds, but speaking “like a dragon” simply connects him with Satan (Aune, Revelation, 2:757).

5. Rissi, Time and History, 62, 69, 84. Roloff, Revelation, 161, traces this view back to Johann Heinrich Jung-Stilling (1740–1817).

6. Kraybill, Imperial Cult and Commerce, 28. Romans feared to offend images in temples; see e.g., Livy, 36.20.3.

7. Cf. Caird, Commentary on Revelation, 177; as well as demands for apostasy or death in Dan. 3:13–20; 6:10–13; 1 Macc. 1:50–51.

8. See Steven J. Scherrer, “Signs and Wonders in the Imperial Cult: A New Look at a Roman Religious Institution in the Light of Rev 13:13–15,” JBL 103 (1984): 599–610; Roloff, Revelation, 163; Talbert, Apocalypse, 56–57. Weaker suggestions appear in Ramsay, Letters to the Seven Churches, 100–103; Ford, Revelation, 224. For emperors, see Dio Cassius, 59.28.6; Dionysius of Halicarnassus, 1.71.3.

9. See especially Aune, Revelation, 2:762–64. Cf. statues weeping in Livy, 40.19.2, and speaking in Dionysius of Halicarnassus, 8.56.2–3.

10. The Antichrist performs signs and raises the dead in Sib. Or. 3.66–67 (possibly a Christian interpolation, but in a pre-Christian context). Caird, Commentary on Revelation, 172, cites other sources and suggests here a “false Elijah,” an apt forerunner of the “false Messiah.”

11. Kraybill, Imperial Cult and Commerce, 137, finds this the primary allusion.

12. G. Adolf Deissmann, Bible Studies, tr. A. Grieve (Edinburgh: T. & T. Clark, 1923), 242–46. Followed also by Caird, Commentary on Revelation, 173; Collins, Crisis and Catharsis, 125.

13. Kraybill, Imperial Cult and Commerce, 137–39. Though it tells us little about John’s day, in the middle third century A.D. the imperial government went so far as to require certificates proving that people had offered pagan sacrifices (P. Oxy. 1464; P. Ryl. 12); see also Ramsay, Letters to the Seven Churches, 106; Kenneth Scott Latourette, A History of the Expansion of Christianity, 5 vols.; vol. 1: The First Five Centuries (Grand Rapids: Zondervan, 1970), 148–49.

14. E.g., Ford, Revelation, 225; Collins, Crisis and Catharsis, 125.

15. Caird, Commentary on Revelation, 173; Ford, Revelation, 215. Soldiers normally served at least two decades. Cf. also the custom of branding devotees in some eastern cults (Cullmann, The State, 77).

16. A. M. H. Jones, A History of Rome Through the Fifth Century; vol. 2: The Empire (New York: Walker, 1970), 327.

17. In Hermas, Vis. 3.6.5–7, some would deny Christ to maintain their businesses; for idolatry’s relation to money, see Richard, Apocalypse, 116.

18. See Kraybill, Imperial Cult and Commerce, 197.

19. So Guthrie, Relevance, 106. Riddles were common (e.g., Josephus, Apion 1.111, 114–15; Matt. 24:15).

20. The eschatologically discerning may be an apocalyptic motif; see 2 Bar. 27:15; 28:1–2; 48:33; Mark 13:14; esp. Gregory K. Beale, “The Danielic Background for Revelation 13:18 and 17:9,” TynBul 31 (1980): 163–70. Such riddles appear in other Jewish prophetic traditions (Sib. Or. 1.141, 145–46), whose meaning has been lost.

21. Rissi, Time and History, 76. But “8” also can symbolize a new creation (Gr. Ezra 4:39).

22. See Bauckham, Climax of Prophecy, 390–94. The number 666 is also about two-thirds of 1000 (technically two-thirds of one should also be added to it), and Revelation sometimes calculates judgments in thirds (8:7–12; 9:15, 18).

23. Walvoord, Revelation, 210, develops this view in part by noting that Nebuchadnezzar’s image was 60 by 6 cubits (Dan. 3:1); this proposal fits the context (Rev. 13:15), but given the other proposals there is not sufficient reason for us to appeal to that source for the 6’s here. (It could almost as easily constitute an allusion to Solomon’s wealth in 1 Kings 10:14; 2 Chron. 9:13; or an Adonikamite, as in Ezra 2:13—neither of which is likely.)

24. Only 1 percent of the numbers between 100 and 1000 fit this pattern. In Roman numerals 666 includes all the characters to 500 once (DCLXVI). A deity’s secret name may be calculated at 9999 (PGM, 2.129). It is possible the name would be calculated on the market abacus used for buying and selling (cf. E. M. Bruins, “The Number of the Beast,” Nederlands Theologisch Tijdschrift 23 [1969]: 401–7; NTA 14:206), but not necessary.

25. So Cullmann, The State, 80.

26. E.g., Sib. Or. 1.141–46; 3.24–26; 5:14–42; 11:29–30, 91–92, 114, 141–42, 190, 208, 256, 274; book 12 passim; Tr. Shem 3:1–2; b. Ned. 32a; Pes. Rab Kah. 2:8; Irenaeus, Her. 1.3.2; 1.14–15; Ep. Barn. 9.8. Numbers are used to spell person’s names in Lucian, Alexander the False Prophet 11.

27. See the listing in Caird, Commentary on Revelation, 174–76. Among more recent suggestions: the abbreviations on Vespasian’s coins transliterated into Hebrew (W. G. Baines, “The Number of the Beast in Revelation 13:18,” Heythrop Journal 16 [1975]: 195–96); “Nikolaitës” in Hebrew, recalling the Nicolaitans (Michael Topham, “Hanniqola’ïtës,” ExpTim 98 [Nov. 1986]: 44–45); “you should destroy” in Hebrew (Michael Oberweis, “Die Bedeutung der neutestamentlichen ‘Rätselzahlen’ 666 (Apk 13:18) und 153 (Joh 21:11),” ZNW 77 [1986]: 226–41). “Babylon” unfortunately comes to only 1285 in Greek.

28. For examples of graffiti, see G. Adolf Deissmann, Light From the Ancient East (Grand Rapids: Baker, 1978), 276–78.

29. See Bauckham, Climax of Prophecy, 385, citing Sib. Or. 5.12–51. Jewish astrologers found significance in any letters used in a person’s name (Tr. Shem 3:1–2; 6:1; 7:13; 8:11; 9:1; 10:1; 11:1; 12:1).

30. E.g., Bowman, First Christian Drama, 87; Beasley-Murray, Revelation, 219–20; John A. T. Robinson, Can We Trust the New Testament? (Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 1977), 70–71; Koester, Introduction, 2:255; Boring, Revelation, 163.

31. See further Gideon Bohak, “Greek-Hebrew Gematrias in 3 Baruch and in Revelation,” Journal for the Study of the Pseudepigrapha 7 (1990): 119–21.

32. Thus newer commentators (Bauckham, Climax of Prophecy, 388–89; Boring, Revelation, 163) cite DJD 2:101, plate 29 line 1. For the objection about Greek see Tenney, Revelation, 19; about the spelling (which he regards as unclear even in the wilderness document), see Beale, Revelation, 719–20.

33. Metzger, Breaking the Code, 76–77.

34. See Bauckham, Climax of Prophecy, 388–90; Roloff, Revelation, 166; Oberweis, “Bedeutung.” (“Caesar is God” also comes out to 616; see Deissmann, Light, 278 n. 3; Schlier, Principalities, 89.) This would be more than an interesting wordplay; Jews and Greeks both used plays on words as arguments. Because the founder of Rome was raised by beasts, Sib. Or. 11.274 calls him “the son of the beast.”

35. Bauckham, Climax of Prophecy, 403–4, makes a strong case from Asc. Isa. 4:12–14 that the numeric tradition behind Rev. 13:18 was already circulating among early Christians.

36. Lindsey, New World Coming, 103. A form of the double Antichrist view seems to originate with a thirteenth-century monk (Kyle, The Last Days, 50).

37. The idea of sophisticated banking was not, however, beyond ancient readers; Roman banks could settle debts by transferring credits in their own books, and devised some basic ways to do the same with other banks (M. Cary and T. J. Haarhoff, Life and Thought in the Greek and Roman World, 4th ed. [London: Methuen & Company, 1946], 126).

38. For views among conspiracy theorists associated with right-wing militias, such as 666 as supermarket bar codes or the current favorite, computer microchips implanted beneath the skin, see Richard Abanes, American Militias (Downers Grove, Ill.: InterVarsity, 1996), 92.

39. “Plot Against SPLC Alleged,” Southern Poverty Law Center Intelligence Report (Spring 1998), 4.

40. On the possibility of a literal ink mark used for market control in the Roman Empire, see E. A. Judge, “The Mark of the Beast, Revelation 13:16,” TynBul 42 (1991): 158–60.

41. Morrice, “John the Seer,” 44. Most Catholics, however, viewed the Antichrist as a future individual (Kyle, The Last Days, 62).

42. Corsini, Apocalypse, 239. Simply halving 1260 and adding 36 would be simpler.

43. Kyle, The Last Days, 111.

44. He later moved to a home in Los Angeles, the address of which had to be changed from 666 to 668 St. Cloud Drive (CT [Feb. 3, 1989], 40); yet he seems an unlikely candidate for the final Antichrist today.

45. Collins, Crisis and Catharsis, 13, cites allegations of 666 on some international product codes (referring to Mary Stewart Relfe, The New Money System “666” [Montgomery: Ministries, 1982], advertised by Relfe as sequel to her 1981 “#1 International Bestseller” When Your Money Fails). In dreams Relfe realized that the Tribulation would begin in 1990 and that Christ would return after Armageddon in 1997 (Relfe, Economic Advisor [newsletter; Feb. 28, 1983], as cited in Kyle, The Last Days, 120, 224).

46. “Social Security: The 666 Challenge?” Contemporary Christian (June 1984), 19. Lindsey, New World Coming, 194–95, suggests the literal imprinting of social security numbers on hand or forehead.

47. On mathematical manipulations, see also the critiques of alleged “Bible codes” in John Winston Moore, “Bible Codes, or Matrix of Deception?” SCP Newsletter 22 (Fall 1997): 1–2, 8, 14, 16; Hugh Ross, “Cracking the Codes,” Facts and Faith 11/3 (1997): 10–11; Ben Witherington, “A Cracked Code,” CT (Jul. 12, 1999), 60). Even accepting the need for elementary text criticism, even for spelling variations, undermines most such “codes” completely.

48. See Robert C. Fuller, Naming the Antichrist: The History of an American Obsession (New York: Oxford Univ. Press, 1996); for a briefer survey and comments, see Michael W. Holmes, 1 & 2 Thessalonians, NIVAC (Grand Rapids: Zondervan, 1998), 241–42, 244.

49. E.g., the Anabaptists; see Kyle, The Last Days, 58.

50. See ibid., 108.

51. Graham, Approaching Hoofbeats, 33.

52. Cullmann, The State, 76.

53. Some Jewish sources also recognized that any generation could prove the final one (e.g., b. Sanh. 94a).

54. See “Best-Selling Spirituality,” Mars Hill Audio Report (Charlottesville, Va.: Berea Publications; 1999).

55. Richard V. Pierard, “Radical Resistance,” Christian History 32 (1991), 30–33 (p. 30).

56. Clifford Green, “Exploring Bonhoeffer’s Writings,” Christian History 32 (1991): 34–36 (p. 35).

57. For fake signs, see Danny Korem, “Psychic Confession” (video; Korem Productions; promoted through Spiritual Counterfeits Project); Robert Burrows, “Firewalking: The Ultimate Burn,” SCP Newsletter 14/4 (1989): 5–6.

58. See John Weldon and Zola Levitt, Psychic Healing (Chicago: Moody, 1982). Many therapeutic methods associated with New Age concepts remain controversial; see Joe Maxwell, “Nursing’s New Age?” CT (Feb. 5, 1996), 96–99; SCP Journal (Aug. 1978); SCP Newsletter 8 (Oct. 1982); SCP Newsletter 9 (Sept. 1983). That a PBS special series on Healing and the Mind in Feb. 1993 could report more on meditation techniques from other cultures than on any Christian healing may represent the intense secularism (and Enlightenment hangover) of our culture and the ability of other movements to repackage their practices as merely “cultural” agendas acceptable to secularists.

59. John Randall, The Book of Revelation: What Does It Really Say? (Locust Valley, N.Y.: Living Flame, 1976), 79. On apparitions of Mary, see discussion in SCP Newsletter 19 (July 1995); SCP Newsletter 20 (Jan. 1995); Elliot Miller and Kenneth Samples, The Cult of the Virgin: Catholic Mariology and the Apparitions of Mary (Grand Rapids: Baker, 1992); for a more positive appraisal, see René Laurentin, Apparitions of the Blessed Virgin Mary Today (San Francisco: Veritas, Ignatius Press, 1990); Pierre-Marie Théas, The Faith of Bernadette, tr. M. Roch (Hamilton, Ont.: Image, 1982).

60. Characteristics associated with some modern sacred statues like weeping (see Livy, 40.19.2; 43.13.4), sweating (see Livy, 27.4.14; Appian, C.W. 2.5.36; 4.1.4) or even speaking (Dionysius of Halicarnassus, 8.56.2–3; cf. Euripides, Iphig. Taur. 1165–67) are attested in pre-Christian paganism, as are visions of goddesses (Dionysius of Halicarnassus, 8.56.1; Chariton, Chaer. 2.2.5; Eric Wolf, “The Virgin of Guadalupe: A Mexican National Symbol,” Journal of American Folklore 71 [1958]: 34–39); by contrast, almost always only God and angels, but never deceased persons, appear in biblical visions.

61. See David A. Powlison, Power Encounters: Reclaiming Spiritual Warfare (Grand Rapids: Baker, 1994); Stan Guthrie, “Muslim Mission Breakthrough,” CT (Dec. 13, 1993), 20–26 (p. 26); essays on “Signs and Wonders,” Mountain Movers (April 1988); Judy Graner, “Appointment with a Piachi,” MM (Sept. 1993), 16; Robert Cobb, “To Battle With Hoes and Machetes,” MM (April 1993), 14–15; Mel Tari, Like a Mighty Wind, 2d ed. (Carol Stream, Ill.: Creation House, 1972), passim.

62. Compare the bhaghat (witch doctor) in Mandala, India, who asked the true God to answer his request by fire, and Jesus was the only one to respond (Paul Eshleman with Carolyn E. Phillips, I Just Saw Jesus [Laguna Niguel, Calif.: The Jesus Project, 1985], 114–15).

63. International Christian Concern in Washington, D.C., provides regular reports on persecution around the world (cf. the “Top-Ten Priority Watch List of Countries Where Christians Are Persecuted,” ICC Concern (Aug. 1998); Christian Solidarity International in Corona del Mar, Calif., also provides information and help. International “Days of Prayer” for persecuted churches have drawn an estimated 200,000 churches to prayer (CT [Oct. 5, 1998], 17).

64. David Barrett estimates that over 160,000 Christians were martyred in 1996 (“Annual Statistical Table on Global Mission: 1997,” International Bulletin of Missionary Research [Jan. 1997], 25). On persecution in the modern era, see Paul A. Marshall, Their Blood Cries Out: The Worldwide Tragedy of Modern Christians Who Are Dying for Their Faith (Dallas: Word, 1997).

65. See accounts in Mountain Movers (April 1995); (May 1995). Recently, in Peru, see John Maust, Peace and Hope in the Corner of the Dead (Miami: Latin America Mission, 1987); “Sauñe Brothers Murdered in Peru,” Mountain Movers (Feb. 1993), 11. Under the old Soviet regime, believers could be confined to psychiatric hospitals (Lori Cydilo, “The Insanity of Russian Psychiatry,” WPR [Aug. 1993], 44).

66. Ronald Q. Tuttle, “Tell My Pastor I Died a Believer,” Mountain Movers (Feb. 1992), 4.

67. “The Harvest God Is Bringing About,” Mountain Movers (March 1995), 16–17, 26.

68. Jerry Parsley, “Acts Revisited,” Mountain Movers (Dec. 1993), 26.

69. Johnson, Revelation, 41, citing Han Woo Keun, History of Korea, ed. G. K. Muntz, tr. Lee Kyen-Shik (Seoul: Eul-Woo, 1970), 496. For Christian suffering in Japanese prison camps, see Rodney Clapp, “Laboratories of the Soul,” CT (Marc. 7, 1986), 23–26.

70. Timothy C. Morgan, “A Tale of China’s Two Churches,” CT (Jul. 13, 1998), 30–39 (p. 38).

71. David Neff, interview with Don Argue, “China Mission: More Than ‘Ping-Pong Diplomacy,’ ” CT (Jul. 13, 1998), 34–38 (p. 37).

72. Karen M. Feaver, “Chinese Lessons: What Chinese Christians Taught a U.S. Congressional Delegation,” CT (Ma. 16, 1994), 33–34.

73. Hemer, Letters to the Seven Churches, 126–27.

74. See Robert A. Krupp, “Golden Tongue and Iron Will,” Christian History 44 (1994): 6–11 (pp. 7, 9–11); Carl A. Volz, “The Genius of Chrysostom’s Preaching,” Christian History 44 (1994): 24–26 (p. 25).

75. Mary L. Hammack et al., “Other Women of the Early Church,” Christian History 17 (1988): 12–18 (p. 18).

76. Thomas Grey and Kevin Miller, “How to Fight Gambling,” CT (Ma. 18, 1998), 39.

77. See Douglas Hudgins in Charles Marsh, God’s Long Summer (Princeton: Princeton Univ. Press, 1997), 82–115.

78. Graham, Approaching Hoofbeats, 106–8, also notes that today many worship not false religions in the traditional sense but materialism; an idol is whatever apart from God dominates our lives.

79. Schlier, Principalities, 88.

1. For the significance of the contrast between 144 (as in 144,000) and 666, see comment on 21:17.

2. The message of 14:1–20 is synthetically recapitulated in 15:1–16:21, with the triumph of the saints (14:1–5) in the conquerors of 15:2 (cf. Talbert, Apocalypse, 59).

3. Early Judaism, like its Bible, applied “Mount Zion” both to the temple mount specifically (1 Macc. 4:37; 5:54; 7:33; 14:27; Judith 9:13) and to Jerusalem in general (Bar. 4:14; 4 Ezra 13:27, 44). Emblematic use for Israel as a whole was relatively rare (cf. 1QM 12.13; p. Meg. 3:6, §2; Taan. 4:2, §13). Early Christians recognized that Mount Zion would be a new Jerusalem (Heb. 12:22).

4. They should also flee Babylon before its judgment, as in Zech. 2:7–8; see comment on Rev. 18:4. The promise of God’s judgment on Zion’s oppressors appears before the Exile (Mic. 4:11–13); the original Babylon was one in a succession of evil empires, as in Dan. 7:3–27 (1 En. 90:1; 2 Bar. 39:3–8; 67:7–8; Sib. Or. 3.158–61); it would be destroyed for destroying God’s temple (Sib. Or. 3.302–3).

5. Gershom G. Scholem, Jewish Gnosticism, Merkabah Mysticism, and Talmudic Tradition (New York: Jewish Theological Seminary of America, 1965), 23, interestingly compares Hekhaloth hymns in Jewish mysticism, but most shared features derive from a common source in the OT.

6. See Aune, Revelation, 2:814–17. Perhaps the 144,000 are all priests (1:6), with a specific contrast intended with a role once limited to Levi (7:7).

7. See Bauckham, Climax of Prophecy, 230, who also notes that the “new song” applied to holy war in Ps. 98:1–3; 144:9; Isa. 42:10–13; Jdt. 16:2–3 (Aune, Revelation, 2:808, thinks the “new song” is military only in Ps. 144:9 and prefers the Greco-Roman motif of heavenly songs).

8. Though rare, the image of male “virgins” appears (1 Cor. 7:25; Jos. and Asen. 4:7/9; 8:1; cf. celibate males in the Qumran scrolls); but we argue that the image here is symbolic, not referring to lifelong celibacy. On celibacy in antiquity, see Aune, Revelation, 2:818–22; C. S. Keener, … And Marries Another (Peabody, Mass.: Hendrickson, 1991), 68–78.

9. Some Jewish people believed that women would not be allowed in the camp of God’s end-time army (1QM 7.3–6).

10. Michaels, Interpreting Revelation, 138, thus argues (probably rightly) that “defilement” with women does not involve marriage (which appears favorably in 19:7; 21:2).

11. Caird, Commentary on Revelation, 179; Bauckham, Climax of Prophecy, 231; Talbert, Apocalypse, 60–61; Meeks, Moral World, 146. An alternative view contrasts them with fallen angels in 1 Enoch (Daniel C. Olson, “ ‘Those Who Have Not Defiled Themselves With Women’: Revelation 14:4 and the Book of Enoch,” CBQ 59 [July 1997]: 492–510).

12. See also Fekkes, Isaiah, 191. Later rabbis associated Rome (cf. 14:8) so much with lying that they claimed even dogs in Rome knew how to deceive (Gen. Rab. 22:6).

13. The word amomos usually designates moral purity in early Christian texts (Eph. 1:4; 5:27; Phil. 2:15; Col. 1:22; Jude 24). Bauckham, Climax of Prophecy, 232, opts for either holy warriors or unblemished sacrifices (cf. Ex. 29:38; Lev. 1:3; Heb. 9:14; 1 Peter 1:19; cf. different sacrificial imagery in the “firstfruits” of 14:4).

14. Fekkes, Isaiah, 286–87, compares the oracles of chs. 14–19 with Old Testament prophets’ oracles against the nations. For an early Jewish example of oracles of doom against nations, see Sib. Or. 4.88–101.

15. Caird, Commentary on Revelation, 182.

16. Cf. Talbert, Apocalypse, 64; for the significance of the “hour,” cf. Rissi, Time and History, 5. Cf. also Bauckham, Climax of Prophecy, 286–89, who finds an allusion to Ps. 96:2, though the LXX obscures rather than clarifies the allusion. Similar language appears in 1 Chron. 16:8–36 (Willem Altink, “1 Chronicles 16:8–36 As Literary Source for Revelation 14:6–7,” AUSS 22 [1984]: 187–96), but it is common biblical praise language.

17. The rabbis applied Isa. 21:9 to historic Babylon but at the same time could condemn Roman “Edom” in their own day (e.g., Gen. Rab. 44:17); Edom was another nickname for Rome (4 Ezra 6:9; p. A.Z. 1:2, §4; Taan. 4:5, §10; Pes. Rab Kah. 23:2). For parallels between Rome and some biblical oracles against Babylon, see Kraybill, Imperial Cult and Commerce, 149–50.

18. For “Babylon” as Parthia, see Lucan, C.W. 1.10. Many Jews lived in literal Babylonia (though cf. Josephus, Ant. 18.371–79), which could also appear in early Jewish texts (Sib. Or. 5.434–46). Some modern teachers expect a rebuilt, end-time Babylon on the Euphrates (Charles H. Dyer, “The Identity of Babylon in Revelation 17–18. Part 2,” BibSac 144 [1987]: 433–49).

19. See Sib. Or. 5.143, 159–61; 4 Ezra 3:1–2, 28; 2 Bar. 11:1–2; 67:7; cf. 4QHab on Hab. 1:6.

20. See Sib. Or. 3.52. For further comments on Babylon’s identity and “adulteries,” see 17:2, 9–11; 18:3, 12–13.

21. With Caird, Commentary on Revelation, 185–86.

22. Ancients knew that sulfur was often spewed forth from within the earth in volcanoes. They also knew it as a terrifying weapon, since besieged citizens could pour burning sulfur on attackers below, and it proved “horribly effective because it stuck to the body” (Aune, Revelation, 2:835).

23. See Apollonius Rhodius, 1.473; Plutarch, Bride 20, Mor. 140F; T.T. 1.4.3; Mor. 621CD; Sifra Sh. par. 1.100.1.3.

24. For early Jewish allusions, see for Israel 1QpHab 11.14–15; 4QpNah 4.5–6; Ps. Sol. 8:14; for the nations, Gen. Rab. 16:4.

25. Beasley-Murray, Revelation, 226; also Caird, Commentary on Revelation, 187. The visibility of the damned appears also in other strands of tradition (e.g., Koh. Rab. 7:14, §3).

26. Talbert, Apocalypse, 66; Beale, Revelation, 761–62. One could argue that Isa. 34:10 symbolizes annihilation, but John’s contemporaries would probably read it in light of Isa. 66:24 (cf. the interpretation in Mark 9:48)

27. In the end-time judgment the wicked will have no “rest” or peace (1 En. 99:13–14).

28. See Caird, Commentary on Revelation, 188, on the Greek construction.

29. Heavenly voices often appear in Jewish texts as a form of divine communication, often a substitute for the prophetic Spirit (Craig S. Keener, The Spirit in the Gospels and Acts [Peabody, Mass.: Hendrickson, 1997], 55); the Spirit often involved prophecy in early Judaism (ibid., 10–13). In Revelation see 10:4, 8; 11:12; 12:10; 18:4; the voice may refer to Jesus (1:10; 4:1), though not necessarily always (14:2; 19:1). Some think 14:13 includes an independent oracle (Aune, Prophecy in Early Christianity, 283); on the Spirit’s “Amen,” see Bruce, “The Spirit in the Apocalypse,” 342. This is one of seven beatitudes in Revelation (see discussion in Bauckham, Climax of Prophecy, 29).

30. For funerary inscriptions, see Harry J. Leon, The Jews of Ancient Rome (Philadelphia: Jewish Publication Society of America, 1960), 123; CIJ 1:198–99, §283; 1:230, §292; 1:233, §296 and passim (I counted well over 50 in CIJ alone); in Greco-Roman letters of consolation, see Stowers, Letter Writing, 145. Cf. 1 Enoch 103:3; Syriac Menander, Sent. 470–73; Gr. Ezra 1:12. In times of tribulation one may also lament that the dead are more blessed than the living (2 Bar. 11:6–7).

31. For the former, see Rissi, Time and History, 29; for the latter, see Beasley-Murray, Revelation, 227, reading ap’ arti as aparti (note that the earliest manuscripts included no breaks between words).

32. Gregory M. Stevenson, “Conceptual Background to Golden Crown Imagery in the Apocalypse of John (4:4, 10; 14:14),” JBL 114 (1995): 257–72 (pp. 271–72), notes some Jewish texts in which the leader of the angelic host wears a golden wreath, but concludes that it fits better Daniel’s son of man as a ruler-judge. Jesus appears to be “Lord of the harvest” (cf. Matt. 9:38; Luke 10:2).

33. Later rabbis could depict Rome’s destruction by the winepress image of Isa. 63 (Lev. Rab. 13:5).

34. Bauckham, Climax of Prophecy, 290–94; cf. Caird, Commentary on Revelation, 193. For the view that both harvests refer to judgment, see Aune, Revelation, 2:801–3; Beale, Revelation, 775–79.

35. Ford, Revelation, 250, thinks the vine is Israel (in favor of this, cf. esp. the vine of Sodom in Deut. 32:32; cf. Rev. 11:8); Caird, Commentary on Revelation, 192, compares martyrs here. Probably this vine supplies a contrast with God’s people as portrayed in John 15:1–7. Early Jewish writers applied the image of treading the winepress in various ways, but one is judgment (see Joshua Schwartz, “Treading the Grapes of Wrath: The Wine Press in Ancient Jewish and Christian Tradition,” Theologische Zeitschrift 49 (1993): 215–18.

36. See Naphtali Lewis, Life in Egypt Under Roman Rule (Oxford: Clarendon, 1983), 125.

37. E.g., Jub. 2:2; 1 En. 20:2; 60:12–22; 66:1–2; 2 En. 5:1–2; 1QM 10.11–12; b. Pes. 118ab; perhaps Ps 148:2–3. For the angel of fire, see Ps-Philo 38:3; for pagan deities of fire, see e.g., Virgil, Aen. 12.90; Diogenes Laertius, 7.1.147.

38. See Joel 3:12–14, which supplies the vintage and harvest images, places the judgment in the Valley of Jehoshaphat (Joel 3:2, 12), which tradition placed outside Jerusalem (cf. also Zech. 14:1–4; Mounce, Revelation, 282); but Babylon is in view in 14:8.

39. E.g., Homer, Il. 4.451; 17.360–61; 20.494; Od. 11.420; Apollonius Rhodius, 3.1391–92; Virgil, Aen. 11.382; Ovid, Metam. 12.110; Livy, 25.12.6; Lucan, C.W. 7.728–29; Herodian, 3.4.5; 4.9.8. Romans counted an unexplained river of blood as a dangerous omen (Livy, 26.23.5; 27.37.3).

40. Homer, Il. 21.21; Virgil, Aen. 11.393–94; 12.35–36; Ovid, Metam. 12.71, 111; Lucan, C.W. 2.214–20; Longinus, Sublime 38.3 (citing Thucydides, 7.84); Sib. Or. 4.61; 5.200–204. In a few accounts (like Lucan’s), the blood allegedly even obstructed ships until most of the blood flowed out to sea.

41. Lucan, C.W. 7.831–40. Other texts speak of people slipping in the gore or falling over piles of corpses (Ovid, Metam. 12.113–14; Polybius, 15.14; Dionysius of Halicarnassus, 9.21.21; 14.114.5). Lucan characteristically claims that corpses were piled as high as the wall (C.W. 6.180).

42. See further Sib. Or. 3.453–54, 695–97 (second century B.C.). In apocalyptic texts the image is typically eschatological (see Bauckham, Climax of Prophecy, 40–44).

43. E.g., b. Git. 57a; p. Suk. 5:1, §7; Taan. 4:5, §10; Lam. Rab. 2:2, §4. Rabbis also told of Israelite women who menstruated so much they filled the Babylonians’ chariots (e.g., Pes. Rab Kah. 17:6). Most ancient readers recognized the reality to which exaggerations typically pointed (Livy, 3.8.10).

44. Beasley-Murray, Revelation, 230, suggests forty as the number for punishment in the Old Testament (e.g., Num. 14:33; Deut. 25:3). He also notes evidence (though he ultimately does not accept it) that some thought the boundaries of the Holy Land to be about 1,600 to 1,700 stadia.

45. On the nature of injustice, see especially Gary Haugen, Good News About Injustice (Downers Grove, Ill.: InterVarsity, 1999), 119–41.

46. Bowman, First Christian Drama, 91; cf. Tenney, Revelation, 82.

47. Paul S. Minear, Images of the Church in the New Testament (Philadelphia: Westminster, 1960), 95.

48. For representatives of an annihilationist position from an evangelical perspective, see “John’s Stott’s Response to Chapter 6,” 306–31 in David L. Edwards and John Stott, Evangelical Essentials: A Liberal-Evangelical Dialogue (Downers Grove, Ill.: InterVarsity, 1988), 313–20; also most Adventist evangelicals.

1. For similar language of apocalyptic signs, see 1 En. 34:1.

2. For temple bowls, see Ex. 25:29; 37:16; Num. 4:7; 7:84; for “bowls” of water and wine used at the altar for the Feast of Tabernacles ritual, cf. m. Suk. 4:9; tos. Suk. 3:14. Ford, Revelation, 254, notes that phiale applies to “a broad, flat bowl often used for drinking or pouring libations” (cf. Josephus, Ant. 3.150), but she also suggests the possibility of incense bowls (cf. Josephus, Ant. 3.143).

3. See Talbert, Apocalypse, 69–70. “Overcome from the beast” (lit.) may reflect Latin grammar (David Aune, “A Latinism in Revelation 15:2,” JBL 110 [1991]: 691–92).

4. Glasson, Moses, 96, cites as background a single reference to a dream that compares Moses to a lamb (Jerusalem Targ. to Ex. 1:15); but it is best to distinguish Moses from the Lamb in Rev. 15:3 (the Greek does not link them by a hendiadys).

5. For the use of Deut. 32 in early Christian literature, see Richard N. Longenecker, Biblical Exegesis in the Apostolic Period (Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 1975), 179.

6. See Bauckham, Climax of Prophecy, 296–307; Roland Meynet, “Le cantique de Moïse et le cantique de l’Agneau (Ap 15 et Ex 15),” Gregorianum 73 (1992): 19–55. Markus Barth, The People of God, JSNTSup 5 (Sheffield: JSOT, 1983), 14, sees the church portrayed in Rev. 15 as the community of the Exodus.

7. Cf. Philo, Contemp. Life 85–87; Husbandry 80–82; 4Q365, fr. 6a in George J. Brooke, “Power to the Powerless—Long-Lost Song of Miriam,” BAR 20 (May 1994): 62–65. Roloff, Revelation, 183, cites a Tannaitic tradition that Moses and the resurrected would sing Ex. 15 again at the resurrection.

8. Mounce, Revelation, 287, finds LXX language (in sequence) from Ps. 11:2; 139:14 (God’s marvelous deeds); Amos 4:13; Deut. 32:4; Ps. 86:9; Mal. 1:11; Ps. 144:17; 98:2. For God alone being holy, see 1 Sam. 2:2, and the idea of Ex. 15:11.

9. With Rissi, Time and History, 31. “God of the ages” is not unknown (e.g., Jub. 31:13; Gen. Apoc. 2.7; 21.2; some manuscripts of Jos. and Asen. 12:1/2).

10. This reading may have slightly more in its favor, but not much (cf. Bruce M. Metzger, A Textual Commentary on the Greek New Testament, 2d ed. [New York: United Bible Societies, 1975], 753–54). Phrases like “Lord of the world” were common (1 Enoch 84:2; 2 Macc. 7:9; Ps. Sol. 2:32; T. Moses 1:11; Sifre Deut. 306.3.1; 306.5.1; p. Sanh. 6:3, §1). Rhetoricians might extol deities on the ground of widespread worship of them (Robert M. Grant, Gods and the One God, LEC 1 [Philadelphia: Westminster, 1986], 56).

11. Thus, e.g., Knibb’s and Isaac’s variant translations of 1 Enoch 81:10.

12. Cf. God as “just and true” in T. Job 4:11/9; of his ways in Neh. 9:13; Dan. 4:37. God displays his “wonderful” strength at the final battle in 1QM 15.13 (probably also in 1QM 12.7).

13. Jewish tradition sometimes applied God’s “deeds” specifically to his plagues on Egypt and judgment of them at the Red Sea (Sifre Deut. 27.5.1; 27.7.1). God’s “works” could refer to his mighty acts (CD 13.7–8) and could invite praise (1QS 1.21; 11.20; 1QM 10.1–2, 8–9). For God’s “righteous” and “true” judgments, see T. Job 43:13.

14. The language also may counter imperial propaganda that praised the emperor as “just,” among other virtues (Aune, Revelation, 2:874, citing Augustus, Res Gestae 34.2).

15. On “angels of destruction,” see 1QS 4.12.

16. Aune, Revelation, 2:878, parallels the opening of this temple to the temple of Janus, opened whenever war was declared. Most important, “opened” heavens relate to divine revelation (4:1; 11:19; 19:11; cf. John 1:51).

17. Pausanias, 2.35.5; 6.20.3; Josephus, Ant. 11.327; see comment on 4:4.

18. For the function of God’s wrath in apocalyptic literature in general, see Talbert, Apocalypse, 65.

19. Gundry, Church and Tribulation, 44–45.

20. Ladd, The Last Things, 70, italics his. Cf. Ladd, Theology, 625: “In the day when the eternal destiny of men is at stake, martyrdom will itself be a victory.”

21. Beasley-Murray, Revelation, 236–37.

22. Ladd, Gospel of the Kingdom, 31.

23. On the historical certainty of the first one, see, e.g., comments in Kevin D. Miller, “Did the Exodus Never Happen?” CT (Sept. 7, 1998), 44–51; Craig Keener and Glenn Usry, Defending Black Faith (Downers Grove, Ill.: InterVarsity, 1997), 147–65.

1. The “pouring” of God’s wrath is a familiar Old Testament expression (I have randomly counted nearly thirty examples: e.g., 2 Chron. 12:7; 34:21, 25; Jer. 6:11; 7:20; 10:25; 42:18; 44:6; Ezek. 20:8, 13, 21, 33–34; 30:15; Dan. 9:11, 27; Hos. 5:10; Nah. 1:6). One of these is specifically in the context of God’s protecting his own (Ezek. 9:8), and one specifically for the shedding of innocent blood (36:18).

2. Beasley-Murray, Revelation, 238–39; cf. also Beale, Revelation, 809–10.

3. For Jewish traditions emphasizing the cry for vindication implicit in the blood of righteous martyrs, sometimes by actual fountains of blood, see sources in Craig S. Keener, Matthew (Downers Grove, Ill.: InterVarsity, 1997), 341; idem, A Commentary on the Gospel of Matthew (Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 1999), 956–57.

4. For angels of nature, see Jub. 2:2; 1 Enoch 20:2; and other references under Rev 14:18. The plural “rivers” probably reflects Ex. 7:19 or Ps. 78:44.

5. Some suggest that John here omits “who is to come” from 16:5 (from “who is and who was”—1:4, 8; 4:8) because the Lord is no longer the “coming one” since he now acts in judgment (cf. Gerhard Delling, “Zum Gottesdienstlichen Stil her Johannes-Apokalypse,” NovT 3 [1959]: 107–37); but this is not the final judgment, nor would he cease to be Lord of the future; thus, the omission may be coincidental.

6. On “deserving” such punishments, see also Wisd. Sol. 16:1, 9; 18:4; 19:4; cf. also Ex. Rab. 9:10; contrast Rev. 3:4. On similar appropriate judgments involving flesh or blood, see Isa. 49:26; Josephus, War 6.216; Lev. Rab. 33:6; Homer, Il. 16.459. On devouring people, cf. 1 Enoch 103:11, 15; on God pouring out people’s blood in judgment, cf. 1 En. 94:9; on drinking blood as a metaphor for murder, see Suetonius, Tib. 59.

7. J. Massyngberde Ford, “The Structure and Meaning of Revelation 16,” ExpTim 98 (1987): 327–30, finds in the fourth and fifth bowls the contrast between the pillar of fire and cloud, in the sixth (more likely) an allusion to the drying of the Red Sea, and in the seventh an allusion to the theophany at Sinai. Aune, Revelation, 2:889, mentions the Greek myth in which Phaethon accidentally scorched the earth with the sun chariot.

8. Some later rabbis said the darkness killed the wicked, even in Israel (Pes. Rab Kah. 5:9; Song Rab. 13, §1). The beast’s “throne” (16:10; cf. 2:13) contrasts with God’s (4:2); his “kingdom” (16:10) will become God’s (11:15; the singular may reflect the beast’s pretension that he controls the entire world).

9. Aune, Revelation, 2:890–91.

10. Beale, Revelation, 827, also notes Cyrus’s diversion of the Euphrates to allow the unexpected capture of Babylon (Herodotus, 1.190–91; Xenophon, Cyropedia 7.5.1–36; prophesied in Jer. 50:38; 51:36).

11. Cf. Fekkes, Isaiah, 201–2. Some of these Jewish traditions may reflect more the promise that the Euphrates would constitute a boundary for Israel’s empire (Gen. 15:18; Ex. 23:31; Deut. 11:24).

12. See also Talbert, Apocalypse, 74; Kraybill, Imperial Cult and Commerce, 162–64.

13. Ovid. Metam. 6.370–81. For their swampy habitat, see Ps-Hesiod, Battle of Frogs and Mice 56–64; Babrius 120. For spirits issuing from the mouth or nose, see Aune, Revelation, 2:894.

14. Apuleius, Metam. 9.34. In dreams they could be held to symbolize cheaters and beggars (Artemidorus, Oneir. 2.15). They are linked with evil in Persian religion (Beasley-Murray, Revelation, 244) and in some other cultures (Catherine Berndt, “The Role of Native Doctors in Aboriginal Australia,” 264–82 in Magic, Faith, and Healing, ed. Ari Kiev [New York: Free Press, 1964], 227).

15. Plutarch, Divine Vengeance 32, Mor. 567F–68A.

16. Cf. likewise 1QM 15.3; 4 Ezra 13:33–34; for nations gathered against Babylon or other enemies of Israel, see Jer. 49:14; 50:29. In 1 En. 56:5–7, angels stir the Parthians in the East and a spirit drives them into the holy land until the Parthians are defeated. For other gatherings of the wicked, see Isa. 43:9; 66:18; 1 Enoch 100:4; Matt. 3:12; 13:41; 24:39–41; 25:32.

17. See Jub. 3:21–22, 30–31; 7:8–10, 20; 1QS 7.12; tos. Ber. 2:14; Sifre Deut. 320.5.2. There is a Jewish tradition that sleeping guards will be beaten and on the second offense will have their clothes burned (Ford, Revelation, 263). Note God’s threat that Babylon will be stripped naked as a consequence of her infidelity (cf. Isa. 20:4; 47:1–3; Rev. 17:16) and that Judah’s lovers will expose her nakedness before them (Ezek. 16:37). Nakedness appears to have been a punishment for infidelity in the Old Testament period (see Jer. 13:22, 26–27; Lam. 1:8; Ezek. 23:26–29; Hos. 2:3; Cyrus H. Gordon, The Ancient Near East [New York: W. W. Norton, 1965], 229–30), fitting for those in league with Revelation’s “prostitute.”

18. Others have identified the mountain with Mount Carmel, where Elijah confronted Baal’s prophets (William H. Shea, “The Location and Significance of Armageddon in Rev 16:16,” AUSS 18 [1980]: 157–62); connected it with the LXX rendering “cut down” in Zech. 12:11 (Hans K. LaRondelle, “The Etymology of Har-Magedon [Rev 16:16],” AUSS 27 [1989]: 69–73, likely unavailable to John’s audience); linked it with the har mo’ed, “mount of assembly” in Isa. 14:13 (Rissi, Time and History, 84; but see Fekkes, Isaiah, 202–3), which can symbolize Mount Zion (Roland E. Loasby, “ ‘Har-Magedon’ According to the Hebrew in the Setting of the Seven Last Plagues of Revelation 16,” AUSS 27 [1989]: 129–32; Meredith G. Kline, “Har Magedon: The End of the Millennium,” JETS 39 [June 1996]: 207–22; logical, though this requires connections that much of John’s audience might not catch); or see it as the end-time location of slaughter (Magog in Ezek. 38:8–39:16).

19. For “air” as the lowest realm of the heavens, see Cicero, De Nat. Deor. 2.26.66; 2.36.91; PGM, 1.179–82; 4.3043–44; 12.67; Philo, Giants 9; Som. 1.135.

20. Amos Nur and Hagai Ron, “Earthquake! Inspiration for Armageddon,” BAR 23 (July 1997): 48–55, observe that Megiddo, probably just alluded to in 16:16, was known for many earthquakes. But could John have expected most of his audience to know this?

21. For Babylon’s fall by an earthquake and Parthians, see Sib. Or. 5.34–44.

22. Caird, Commentary on Revelation, 209, who can only suggest the islands as a reference to detention (1:9). His connection of a mountain with Babylon in 17:9 ignores the parallel with the new Jerusalem in 21:10.

23. Ford, Revelation, 265, compares the destructiveness of catapult stones of nearly this weight in Josephus, War 5.270–73.

24. Rissi, Time and History, 11, also emphasizes this contrast.

25. Petersen, Preaching in the Last Days, 232.

26. Later rabbis also recognized that God struck Pharaoh for what he had done to Israel (Num. Rab. 10:2).

27. See Kyle, The Last Days, 111; on the Reformers’ views of the Turks (identifying them with Gog, allies of the Antichrist), see ibid., 61.

28. Lindsey, New World Coming, 225; Jack T. Chick, Kings of the East (Chino, Calif.: Chick Publications, 1975).

29. Andrew Sung Park, Racial Conflict and Healing (Maryknoll, N.Y.: Orbis, 1996), 16–17.

30. A. Charles Ware, Prejudice and the People of God (Indianapolis: Baptist Bible College of Indianapolis, 1998), 77.

31. J. I. Packer, Knowing God (Downers Grove, Ill.: InterVarsity, 1993), 160.

32. A. W. Tozer, The Knowledge of the Holy (New York: Harper & Row, 1961), 93. For more on judgments, see Contemporary Significance section of 8:7–12.

33. C. S. Lewis, The Great Divorce (New York: Macmillan, 1946), esp. 6–9.

34. See “Anatomy of an Abuse Case,” NW (Jul. 26, 1993), 52–53; “Was It Real or Memories?” NW (Marc. 14, 1994), 54–55; “Misty, Watercolored Memories,” NW (Dec. 13, 1993), 68–69; Jon Meacham, “Trials and Troubles in Happy Valley,” NW (Ma. 8, 1995), 58–60; and the 1990s story of the Menendez brothers. Cf. also Reinder Van Til, Lost Daughters: Recovered Memory Therapy and the People It Hurts (Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 1997), and sources he cites. Again, we are not minimizing the terrible impact of genuine abuse, which is common.

35. For solutions against oppression by dictators and others in power, see Gary Haugen, Good News About Injustice (Downers Grove, Ill.: InterVarsity, 1999), 142–53; for oppressors’ use of deception to generate equivocation, see ibid., 129–41. One Nigerian colonel was tortured until he falsely denounced a former head of state, leading to the latter’s imprisonment under the dictator Abacha (see Olusegun Obasanjo, Guides to Effective Prayer [Abeokuta: Olusegun Obasanjo, 1998], 7–8).

36. Take, for example, long memories in Serbia and Bosnia (for volatile religious propaganda there, see Michael Sells, “Bosnia: Some Religious Dimensions of Genocide,” Religious Studies News & Notes (May 1994), 4–5); or white supremacist ideologies that fostered colonialism in Africa (see Glenn Usry and Craig Keener, Black Man’s Religion [Downers Grove, Ill.: InterVarsity, 1996], 25–26).

37. Christians must also engage in ethical forms of persuasion; cf. discussions in Em Griffin, “Winning Over: How to Change People’s Minds,” Eternity (May 1976), 29–34; Duane Litfin, “The Perils of Persuasive Preaching,” CT (Feb. 4, 1977), 14–17; Raymond W. McLaughlin, The Ethics of Persuasive Preaching (Grand Rapids: Baker, 1979).

1. For angels taking visionaries up, see also 1 Enoch 17:1; 2 Bar. 6:3–4; T. Abr. 10B; Apoc. Zeph. 2:1; cf. perhaps Ezek. 8:2–3. For “showing,” cf. Rev 1:1; 4:1; 21:9–10; 22:1, 6.

2. For disgust with cannibalism, see Herodotus, Hist. 1.123, 129; Diodorus Siculus, 34/35.12.1; Achilles Tatius, 5.5.

3. For later contrasts between Israel as faithful or unfaithful wife, see Pes. Rab Kah. 19:4.

4. Jewish interpreters could also identify waters with “many nations,” based on Isa. 17:12–13 (T. W. Manson, On Paul and John: Some Selected Theological Themes, SBT 38 [London: SCM, 1963], 102, citing Song Rab. 8:6–7). It is uncertain how widespread was Babylon’s reputation for immorality (Herodotus, 1.99). Sib. Or. 8.194 probably borrows Revelation’s image.

5. Demetrius, On Style 5.265.

6. Ford, Revelation, 277; most fully, Aune, Revelation, 3:920–22, also tracing components of the ekphrasis genre here on pp. 923–27. Cf. Rome as a mother of beasts in Sib. Or. 3.469.

7. Robert Beauvery, “L’Apocalypse au risque de la numismatique. Babylone, la grande Prostituée et le sixième roi Vespasien et la déesse Rome,” RevBib 90 (April 1983): 243–60, though his linkage of the image of the she-wolf (lupa) who nursed Romulus with its other Latin sense of an immoral woman (also in Aune, Revelation, 3:929) probably would have occurred to John’s audience only with prior instruction.

8. See Corsini, Apocalypse, 200. Iain Provan, “Foul Spirits, Fornication and Finance: Revelation 18 From an Old Testament Perspective,” JSNT 64 (1996): 81–100, sees Jerusalem in the Old Testament images of Rev. 18; but Revelation clearly reapplies many of its images to metaphoric heirs (e.g., descriptions of Tyre to end-time Babylon); Christians may have also reapplied some earlier sentiments against religious persecutors in Jerusalem to Rome. By contrast, S. G. F. Brandon, Jesus and the Zealots (New York: Charles Scribner’s Sons, 1967), 60 n. 3, suggests that it reflects a Jewish source seething with anti-Roman hatred.

9. For a literal Babylon, see Dyer, “Identity.”

10. For Rome here, see F. F. Bruce, The Message of the New Testament (Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 1981), 86; Michaels, Revelation, 196; for the contrast, Paul S. Minear, “The Cosmology of the Apocalypse,” 23–37 in Current Issues in New Testament Interpretation, ed. W. Klassen and G. F. Snyder (New York: Harper & Row, 1962), 30.

11. See Ramsay, Letters to the Seven Churches, 94.

12. Bauckham, Climax of Prophecy, 343.

13. Sib. Or. 3.396–400 apparently applies Daniel’s image to Hellenistic kings after Alexander. Some have compared the scarlet beast to the scapegoat (Lev. 16:8–26; Ford, Revelation, 277), perhaps coalesced with the red heifer (Num. 19:2).

14. For its association with wealth, see e.g., Lucretius, Nat. 5.1423; Horace, Ode 1.35.12; 2.18.7–8; 1 Macc. 10:20, 62, 64; 14:43–44; Sib. Or. 8.74; some writers complained about its extravagance (Seneca, Dial. 12.11.2; Plutarch, T.T. 3.1.2, Mor. 646B; some manuscripts of 1 Enoch 98:2). For prostitutes’ purple, see Ps-Melissa, Letter to Kleareta (in Malherbe, Moral Exhortation, 83).

15. Bauckham, Climax of Prophecy, 344; Mounce, Revelation, 310; but the supporting references are questionable. Some later Christians may have taken the name written too literally (Gr. Ezra 4:31). For the significance of a prostitute’s forehead (perhaps signifying brazenness; cf. Isa. 48:4; Ezek. 3:8–9), see Jer. 3:3; Hos. 2:2; in this period some Jews may have applied it to an uncovered head, which could signify sexual availability (see C. S. Keener, “Head Coverings,” in Dictionary of New Testament Background, ed. C. Evans and S. Porter [Downers Grove, Ill.: InterVarsity, forthcoming]).

16. Aune, Revelation, 3:926–27, with documentation. The tradition fits the Roman claim to be descended from Venus, goddess of love, through Aeneas.

17. See sources in Aune, Revelation, 3:937.

18. Cf. 1 Enoch 62:12. Mounce, Revelation, 310, cites also Roman writers who used this figure (Suetonius, Tib. 59; Pliny, N.H. 14.28; Josephus, War 5.344).

19. Ramsay, Letters to the Seven Churches, 94–95; see also Eusebius, Book of Martyrs 6 (Agapius); William H. C. Frend, Martyrdom and Persecution in the Early Church (Garden City, N.Y.: Anchor, 1967); idem, “Evangelists to the Death,” Christian History 57 (1998): 31–33; Paul Keresztes, Imperial Rome and the Christians (Lanham, Md.: Univ. Press of America, 1989). From Tacitus (Ann. 15.44) I suspect that hundreds were martyred under Nero alone, so I think many current historians underestimate the number of martyrs in later centuries.

20. See Talbert, Apocalypse, 80; Beasley-Murray, Revelation, 256; Mounce, Revelation, 314; Martin Hengel, Property and Riches in the Early Church (Philadelphia: Fortress, 1974), 48. Note also Sib. Or. 2.18; 11.113, 116, which describe Rome as a city on seven hills.

21. Caird, Commentary on Revelation, 216 (see sources cited there, such as Virgil, Geor. 2.535; Aen. 6.782–83). We can add Dionysius of Halicarnassus, 4.13.2–3; Varro, 5.7.41. The hills were Palatine, Capitol, Aventine, Caelian, Esquiline, Viminal, and Quirinal (Andrew D. Clarke, “Rome and Italy,” 455–81 in The Book of Acts in Its Graeco-Roman Setting, ed. D. W. J. Gill and C. Gempf [Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 1994], 457). For Jewish use of seven mountains for paradise (1 Enoch 24:2; 32:10), see comment on 21:1.

22. Howard Clark Kee, Christian Origins in Sociological Perspective: Methods and Resources (Philadelphia: Westminster, 1980), 71 (on Rev. 13).

23. E.g., Tenney, Revelation, 82; Desmond Ford, The Abomination of Desolation in Biblical Eschatology (Washington, D.C.: Univ. Press of America, 1979), 269.

24. E.g., Talbert, Apocalypse, 79.

25. Bauckham, Climax of Prophecy, 394–96, suggests a detailed mathematical parallel: 666 is the “double triangle” of 8, and is the eighth doubly triangular number; one of the first seven doubly triangular numbers is 6, allowing the eighth to be one of the seven.

26. Bowman, First Christian Drama, 115. These kings are the “kings of the earth” in 17:18 (Beale, Revelation, 878).

27. Caird, Commentary on Revelation, 218–19. Cf. the seven kings promised in Sib. Or. 3.191–94, 318, 608–10, probably in pre-Roman Egypt.

28. Roman literature often speaks of its first seven kings as a special group (e.g., Appian, R.H. 1.2), the sixth of whom (cf. 17:10) established the seven hills; but if this number has any significance, it may simply contrast with John’s listing of seven kings toward the end of Rome’s history (cf. twelve kings ending in Domitian in 4 Ezra 11:1–35).

29. Cf. Roloff, Revelation, 198–99. A. Strobel starts with Tiberius (from Christ’s exaltation) and skips the interim emperors (“Abfassung und Geschichtstheologie der Apokalypse nach Kap. xvii.9–12,” NTS 10 [1964]: 433–45); Jarl H. Ulrichsen interestingly counts Domitian as both sixth and tenth, using seven heads for emperors from Caligula without the three interregnum emperors and ten horns including them (“Die sieben Häupter und die zehn Hörner. Zur Datierung der Offenbarung des Johannes,” ST 39 [1985]: 1–20). Many scholars start with Julius (cf. Josephus, Ant. 18.225) and count Nero as the sixth (current) emperor (E. Lipinski, “L’apocalypse et le martyre de Jean à Jérusalem,” NovT 11 [1969]: 225–32; Sproul, Last Days, 147), or with Augustus and count the sixth as Vespasian (Rissi, Time and History, 81). Some texts count the three interregnum emperors as rulers (Josephus, War 4.494, 498; Sib. Or. 5.35), but others recognize them as usurpers (cf. Suetonius, Vesp. 1), which probably represents the dominant Roman view under Domitian, who belonged to the dynasty that supplanted them (cf. Mounce, Revelation, 314–15).

30. Bauckham, Climax of Prophecy, 396–97, suggests a possible parody of Christ also in the number eight, given early Christian emphasis on the “eighth day” and Jesus as 888.

31. Ibid., 438–40. Cf. the parody of the Parousia suggestion earlier in Bowman, First Christian Drama, 115.

32. See Ramsay, Letters to the Seven Churches, 95, 113; Bowman, First Christian Drama, 117. For similar uses of animal body parts to symbolize kings, see 4 Ezra 12:19–20; for the idea that judgment will come after just one more king, see Gen. Rab. 83:4. Daniel’s ten kingdoms probably appear in Pes. Rab. 1:7.

33. Beasley-Murray, Revelation, 258, citing as possibly relevant the fourteen satraps of Parthia; John is limited to Daniel’s “ten.”

34. Cf. Caird, Commentary on Revelation, 219–20; the myth of Nero’s ten satraps in Rissi, Time and History, 80. They can represent the seven kings with the addition of the three usurpers (Ulrichsen, “Haüpter”), but both John’s “seven” (by his numerical patterns and the beast’s heads) and his “ten” (from Daniel) have been predetermined, allowing him less flexibility in producing clear applications.

35. Aune, Revelation, 3:951. Less relevantly, Aune (ibid.) mentions the Roman board of decemviri, “ten men” who codified Roman law.

36. For similar language in other oracular literature, see Sib. Or. 12.26. “In one hour” can mean “instantly” (T. Job 7:12/11).

37. Plutarch, Pompey 38.2; it can apply to any superlative ruler (T. Jud. 3:7). Aune, Revelation, 3:954–55, provides a detailed summary of usage in the East.

38. Such a triple designation is not unusual (e.g., God is “holy,” “faithful,” and “righteous” in Jub. 21:4).

39. Before execution, see Dionysius of Halicarnassus, 7.69.2; Josephus, Apion 1.191; 2.53; m. Sanh. 6:3; b. Sanh. 45a, bar.; before public beatings, see Longus, 2.14; Aulus Gellius, 10.3.3.

40. Early Judaism understood this principle (e.g., 1QS 3.23; 1QM 1.8; b. Yoma 10a; Lam. Rab. Proem 23; 4:19, §22). Even if Satan claimed to rule the kingdoms of the world (Luke 4:6), that role truly belongs only to God (Dan. 4:32; Wisd. Sol. 6:3). Dio Chrysostom can praise Alexandria no more highly than to call her the second city under the sun (32^nd Discourse §35), because Rome was known to be first.

41. Dionysius of Halicarnassus (1.9.1) called her the “lady who rules the earth and sea,” and Diodorus Siculus (1.4.3) claimed that Rome was so powerful it rules “as far as the ends of the inhabited world.”

42. Ellul, Apocalypse, 190. Cf. Mounce, Revelation, 303.

43. Jewish sources regularly spoke of the “four kingdoms” (Babylon, Persia, Greece and Rome, based on their understanding of Daniel’s beasts) that oppressed Israel, viewing Rome as the last (2 Bar. 39:4–5).

44. This view has not completely died down in Protestantism; see Tim LaHaye, Revelation Unveiled (Grand Rapids: Zondervan, 1999), esp. 65–71, 260–77.

45. Cf. James DeForest Murch, The Coming World Church (Lincoln, Neb.: Good News Broadcasting Association, 1971), 22; R. W. DeHaan, “The Coming World Church,” Radio Bible Class (March 1969).

46. For a similar view, see John F. Walvoord, “Revival of Rome,” BibSac 126 (1969): 317–28; idem, Revelation, 243–44; Prophecy Knowledge Handbook, 604–8. Lindsey, New World Coming, 242–43, predicts a rebuilding of literal Babylon.

47. Walvoord, Revelation, 247–48.

48. The mysteries were primarily a Greek phenomenon with influence from Asia Minor (Walter Burkert, Ancient Mystery Cults [Cambridge, Mass.: Harvard Univ. Press, 1987], 2–6, 37; idem, Greek Religion [Cambridge, Mass.: Harvard Univ. Press, 1985], 166, 177; Giulia Sfameni Gasparro, Soteriology and Mystic Aspects in the Cult of Cybele and Attis, ÉPROER 103 [Leiden: Brill, 1985], 49). See a more thorough response to older views about the mysteries in C. S. Keener and Glenn Usry, Defending Black Faith, 50, and notes.

49. Walvoord, Revelation, 245, thinks the purple and other ornaments fit Roman Catholic and Greek Orthodox officials better than pagan Rome (but see comments on 18:12–13).

50. See C. S. Keener, “Woman and Man,” Dictionary of the Later New Testament and Its Development, 1205–215 (pp. 1209–211).

51. Bruce Hindmarsh, “Aristocratic Activists,” Christian History 53 (1997): 23–27, 25.

52. Kyle, The Last Days, 129.

53. David Jordan, in Better Homes and Gardens (Jan. 1988), 15.

54. William Stringfellow, An Ethic for Christians and Other Aliens in a Strange Land, 3d ed. (Waco, Tex.: Word, 1979), 33; this work was brought to my attention by John Herzog of Bethel College.

55. On the dangers of U.S. pornography, see Tom Minnery, “Pornography: The Human Tragedy,” CT (Marc. 7, 1986), 17–22; idem, ed., Pornography: A Human Tragedy (Wheaton, Ill.: Christianity Today, Inc., and Tyndale, 1986); for cyberporn, John Zipperer, “The Naked City,” CT (Sept. 12, 1994), 42–49.

56. Chuck Colson, “Save the Christians,” Jubilee (Spring 1996), 15.

57. See Howard Fineman, “Collateral Damage,” NW (Aug. 31, 1998), 18–23, 21.

58. Note the rise in promiscuity, hence in AIDS, in Russia (Matthew Kaminski and Kim Palchikoff, “The Crisis to Come,” NW [Apri. 14, 1997], 44–45).

59. “China’s New Family Values,” NW (Aug. 24, 1998), 36.

60. For protests, see Bruno Bettelheim, “TV Stereotypes ‘Devastating’ to Young Minds,” USNWR (Oct. 28, 1985), 55; Susan Baker and Tipper Gore, “Some Reasons for ‘Wilding,’ ” NW (Ma. 29, 1989), 6–7; Kevin Perrotta, “Television’s Mind-Boggling Danger,” CT (Ma. 7, 1982), 20–22. On trash television, see Harry F. Waters et al., “Trash TV,” NW (Nov. 14, 1988), 72–78.

61. For copycat crimes based on entertainment media, see data in John Leland, “Violence, Reel to Real,” NW (Dec. 11, 1995), 46–48.

62. Mary Rose McGeady, Covenant House Newsletter (Aug. 1993), 1.

63. Ted Baehr, “Redefining Culture Through Media,” SCP Journal 18/1–2 (1993): 36–43 (p. 39). A survey in England concluded that teenagers who watched much violence committed “49% more violent and anti-social behavior” than those who did not (Baehr, “Culture,” 40).

64. Baehr, “Culture,” 40.

65. John Russo, “ ‘Reel’ Vs. Real Violence,” NW (Feb. 19, 1990), 10.

66. See David Gelman, “The Violence in Our Heads,” NW (Aug. 2, 1993), 48; David Neff, “Shootout at the Not-So-OK Corral,” CT (Nov. 9, 1992), 12–13; esp. violence psychologist David Grossman, “Trained to Kill,” CT (Aug. 10, 1998), 30–39.

67. Partly for lack of time, partly to protest the glorification of violence, I have never owned a television.

68. See Tertullian, On Spectacles.

69. The story is told in Charles Colson, Loving God (Grand Rapids: Zondervan, 1987), 243.

70. Bowman, First Christian Drama, 117.

1. Mourning could also be genuine (e.g., Jer. 6:26; 8:21). Laments over the dead were standard throughout Mediterranean antiquity (e.g., Achilles Tatius, 1.14; Emanuel Feldman, “The Rabbinic Lament,” JQR 63 [1972]: 51–75), and often addressed them (e.g., Tobit 10:5). Greek forms for mourning and eulogies often affected Jewish forms (J. C. H. Lebram, “Die literarische Form des vierten Makkabäerbuches,” Vigiliae Christianae 28 [June 1974]: 81–96), but a Qumran lament over Jerusalem emphasizes Old Testament language (Maurya P. Horgan, “A Lament Over Jerusalem (4Q179),” JSS 18 [Autumn 1973]: 222–34).

2. E.g., “Lamentation over Ur” in ANET, 455–63; Lam. 1:1–5:22; 1 Macc. 2:6–13; Greek Anthology, 9.151. For prophetic lamentation over a city’s future destruction, see also Sib. Or. 5.98–99.

3. The structure here alternates between an angel (18:1–3, 21–24) and a voice from heaven (God or a high agent, 18:4–8, 20; 19:5; the saints in 19:1–3, 6–7); the heavenly voice also narrates the nations’ lament (18:9–19).

4. González, Revelation, 116. Recent estimates place Rome’s early population lower (Richard L. Rohrbaugh, “The Pre-Industrial City in Luke-Acts: Urban Social Relations,” 125–49 in The Social World of Luke-Acts: Models for Interpretation, ed. J. H. Neyrey [Peabody, Mass.: Hendrickson, 1991], 133), but traditional estimates are based on Roman records of the grain dole reported in Roman historians (Clarke, “Rome and Italy,” 464–66). Even earlier in the Republic the number cannot be below half a million, because the Roman census usually showed about 100,000 citizens, not including women, children, foreigners, and menial workers or slaves (e.g., Dionysius of Halicarnasus, 5.20.1; 5.75.3; 6.96.4; 9.15.2; 9.36.3).

5. The LXX most often associates “demons” with idolatry (Deut. 32:17; Ps. 96:5; 106:37; Isa. 65:3; Bar. 4:7), which fits Babylon/Rome (Rev. 9:20). Early Jewish literature often comments on the imprisonment of fallen angels in various locales (see commentaries on 2 Peter 2:4).

6. Aune, Revelation, 3:990, connects Babylon’s luxury or wealth in 18:3, 9, 16–17, 19 with the four mentions of Tyre’s wealth in Ezek. 27:12, 18, 27, 33.

7. Bauckham, Climax of Prophecy, 347.

8. Ibid., 346; cf. Kraybill, Imperial Cult and Commerce, 152–61.

9. See Bauckham, Climax of Prophecy, 376–77; Kraybill, Imperial Cult and Commerce, 29. Collins, Crisis and Catharsis, 127, associates this with social rather than physical removal (12:6, 14).

10. Cf. Jeremiah’s warnings to stay far from Babylonian sins (4 Bar. 7:37); Enoch’s warnings to stay far from sinners whose “secret” deeds are known to God (1 Enoch 104:6–8); warnings that those who heed the world will share its destruction (T. Job 33:4); Tobit’s warning to depart from Nineveh before its destruction (Tobit 14:8); the summons to separate from “those destined for the Pit” (CD 6.14–15); and the belief that the eschatological remnant will flee from the apostates to the true Israel (4QpNah 3.5).

11. This principle was also recognized by Jewish interpreters (Sifre Deut. 332.2.1). For the reparation of 18:20, 24, as in Luke 11:50–51, see also F. F. Bruce, The Time Is Fulfilled (Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 1978), 106.

12. On drinking a cup of judgment to the dregs, see Ps. 75:8. On double payment, cf. 1 Tim. 5:17; Sherk, Empire, 92, 159–60; other Greek references in Aune, Revelation, 3:992–93.

13. Cf. Jerusalem’s fate in Lam. 1:1. A cognate of this word for arrogance appears in an oracle against Assyria in 2 Kings 19:28; the loss of children was judgment on the immoral woman of Rev. 2:23; famine and death (18:8) come on the world in 6:8. Famine and pestilence frequently accompanied a city’s demise (Aune, Revelation, 3:996).

14. Kraybill, Imperial Cult and Commerce, 57, cites I. Eph. 599; Josephus, War 5.367. Cf. the addition to Gen. 11:4 in Ps-Philo, 7:1.

15. God would also avenge the sufferings of Asia on Rome the conqueror (Sib. Or. 3.350–55) and judge Rome’s arrogance (3.466–68; 8.75–76). Egypt (and/or Cleopatra) is a widow (11.279; cf. 3.75–92) but even worse will marry Rome (11.290). Such reapplication of language was not meant to cancel Isaiah’s literal meaning; Sib. Or. 5.444–45 applies Isa. 47 against literal Babylon.

16. Kraybill, Imperial Cult and Commerce, 57, 59–82.

17. Ibid., 65–66.

18. Other writers expected great wealth to perish when God judged Rome (Sib. Or. 2.18), as well as when he judged Phoenicia’s maritime cities (3.492–94) and prosperous Alexandria (5.98). By contrast, those who portrayed a utopian future expected mercantile ships to cease because every land would bear all fruits (Virgil, Ecl. 4.37–39).

19. Bauckham, Climax of Prophecy, 375–76, citing Aelius Aristides, Or. 26.7, 11–13. Bauckham is surely right that John himself is denouncing rather than mourning Rome’s wealth (ibid., 338–83).

20. Livy, 1.4.1. Later rabbis claimed that Rome’s wealth was incomparable (ARN, 28A) and that there were 133,225 palaces in Rome, each with 365 stories—each story with enough food to feed the world (b. Pes. 118b).

21. Mounce, Revelation, 329.

22. Kraybill, Imperial Cult and Commerce, 107, citing Res Gestae 15. Emperors used grain to maintain stability in their capital (Pliny, Panegyricus 29.1–5); when they withheld it, riots ensued (Appian, C.W. 5.8.67; Tacitus, Ann. 6.13; 12.43).

23. Kraybill, Imperial Cult and Commerce, 66–67.

24. Ibid., 29, 123–41; for pagan symbols at ports, see 125–27; cf. Acts 28:11.

25. Ibid., 197.

26. Ibid., 23.

27. Caird, Commentary on Revelation, 226.

28. Most of what follows is especially from Bauckham, Climax of Prophecy, 352–66, who documents elaborately. Others provide valuable details (e.g., Caird, Commentary on Revelation, 228; Ford, Revelation, 298–99; Aune, Revelation, 3:998–1002), but Bauckham provides the most to date.

29. On mine slaves, see Naphtali Lewis, Life in Egypt Under Roman Rule (Oxford: Clarendon, 1983), 137–38. After the first century, Rome turned more to the Balkans for gold (Aune, Revelation, 3:998).

30. Not directly familiar with gathering oysters, ancients sometimes had interesting views of how they were harvested (e.g., Arrian, Indica 8.11–12).

31. In addition to Bauckham, see on silk production and trade through history Richard N. Frye, The Heritage of Central Asia: From Antiquity to the Turkish Expansion (Princeton, N.J.: Markus Wiener, 1996), 153–57. Rome traded with China especially A.D. 90–130, probably nearly 45 million sesterces a year (and 55 million with India; Aune, Revelation, 3:999).

32. See Pliny, N.H. 13.95, as cited in Bauckham, Climax of Prophecy, 356–57.

33. Bauckham, Climax of Prophecy, 360. The cheapest cinnamon cost 50 times as much as the same weight in wheat, and rose to 300 times that much during a shortage (Kraybill, Imperial Cult and Commerce, 105, citing Pliny, N.H. 12.93, 97).

34. Ibid., 104.

35. Bauckham, Climax of Prophecy, 363.

36. Ibid., 365.

37. Abandoned babies were common (e.g., Diodorus Siculus, 4.64.1; 8.4.1; 19.2.3–5; Juvenal, Sat. 6.602–9; Longus, 1.2, 5; 4.24, 36; Pausanias, 2.26.4) and often were raised as slaves (Justin, Apol. 1.27; Lewis, Life in Egypt, 54, 58). Like Jews (Josephus, Apion 2.202; Diodorus Siculus, 40.3.8), Egyptians opposed child abandonment (Diodorus Siculus, 1.80.3).

38. Bauckham, Climax of Prophecy, 370; Ford, Revelation, 299. For references on human “bodies” signifying slaves, see G. Adolf Deissmann, Bible Studies, tr. A. Grieve (Edinburgh: T. & T. Clark, 1923), 160.

39. Bauckham, Climax of Prophecy, 350–51.

40. Ibid., 366 (Pliny, N.H. 37.204 includes thirteen of Revelation’s twenty-eight, and Revelation includes eighteen of Pliny’s items).

41. Ibid., 368–69. On a parallel denunciation of Rome’s exploitation of Asia in the Sibylline Oracles, see pp. 378–83. Aune, Revelation, 3:990, argues that the passage denounces luxury (as do some contemporary Roman critiques of Roman society) rather than exploitation (though cf. 3:1010 and the ancient link between seafaring and greed, 3:989), since provinces (especially Asia) also profited from Rome’s trade. But a provincial shut out of the merchant class (13:17–18; 18:3) may recognize that Rome acquired its wealth from the provinces in unjust trade patterns that helped only those welcome to participate.

42. The phrase “great of earth” (lit.) may stem from Isa. 23:8 (against Tyre) but fits merchants of the Roman empire; though not of high social rank, they were often wealthy (Bauckham, Climax of Prophecy, 373).

43. See ibid., 373–74; cf. Hesiod, Works and Days 689–91; Brian M. Rapske, “Acts, Travel and Shipwreck,” 1–47 in The Book of Acts in Its Graeco-Roman Setting, ed. D. W. J. Gill and C. Gempf (Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 1994), 25–28. For captains’ safe delivery contracts, see P. Oxy. 3250.

44. To be sure, the tribute inflow (probably about 10 percent of the empire’s Gross National Product) stimulated trade and the outflow of cash, benefiting the overall economy of the urban empire (Aune, Revelation, 3:989); but most rural peasants—the bulk of the empire’s people—experienced taxation as oppressive (see C. S. Keener, Matthew [Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 1999], 292–93).

45. The shift between second-person address to Babylon (18:22–23) and third-person description of Babylon (18:21, 24) was standard in prophetic literature, including judgment speeches (Aune, Prophecy in Early Christianity, 285).

46. Jewish literature included many examples of victors (righteous or unrighteous) rejoicing over their foes (T. Levi 15:3), including over Babylon (2 Bar. 11–12), and the righteous would eternally behold the torment of the wicked (1 Enoch, 27:3–4).

47. Some apply “prophets” here only to Old Testament prophets, but this text probably includes prophets of this era (Bruce, “The Spirit in the Apocalypse,” 338). On the continuance of these gifts, see Eph. 4:11–13; Craig S. Keener, 3 Crucial Questions About the Holy Spirit (Grand Rapids: Baker, 1996), 81–127 (esp. 101–7); Jack Deere, Surprised by the Power of the Spirit (Grand Rapids: Zondervan, 1993), 99–115, 229–66 (esp. 241–52).

48. Caird, Commentary on Revelation, 229–30; Allison A. Trites, The New Testament Concept of Witness, SNTSM 31 (Cambridge: Cambridge Univ. Press, 1977), 172.

49. A millstone around the neck may have become traditional for an encumbrance (b. Kid. 29b, bar.), but Jesus means it more harshly (cf. 1 En. 48:9). A donkey could pull about half the weight a mule could, easily over a hundred pounds (cf. Rapske, “Travel,” 8); at worst, one would use an old horse (Babrius, 29.1–2).

50. Drowning was typically a Roman punishment (e.g., Livy, 1.51.9—drowning with a crate full of stones; 27.37.5–7; Babrius 27), but it was not unknown among Jews (Josephus, Ant. 14.450).

51. The bridal chamber epitomized joy, and its interruption epitomized mourning (e.g., 1 Macc. 1:27; 9:39–41; 3 Macc. 4:6; Josephus, War 6.301); hearers’ hearts might be moved by the specificity of judgment on those too young to be married or newlyweds (Lam. 1:18; 2:21; Sib. Or. 3.480–82, 525–27). In Jer. 31:13 and 33:11, God promised to reverse Israel’s “bridal” sorrow of 16:9 and 25:10.

52. See Floyd V. Filson, “Ephesus and the NT,” BA 8 (Sept. 1945): 73–80 (p. 80); Clinton E. Arnold, Ephesians: Power and Magic, SNTSM 63 (Cambridge: Cambridge Univ. Press, 1989), 14–16; Paul Trebilco, “Asia,” 291–362 in The Book of Acts in Its Graeco-Roman Setting, ed. D. W. J. Gill and C. Gempf (Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 1994), 314.

53. Although magic was widely practiced in early Jewish circles (Acts 13:6; Craig S. Keener, The Spirit in the Gospels and Acts [Peabody, Mass.: Hendrickson, 1997], 29–30 n. 21), many Jewish circles condemned it (Wisd. Sol. 17:7; 2 Bar. 66:2; m. Sanh. 7:11; Urbach, Sages, 1:97–100), maintaining the appropriateness of the biblical capital penalty (p. Hag. 2:2, §5; Sanh. 7:13, §2).

54. See Bauckham, Climax of Prophecy, 349.

55. See Kraybill, Imperial Cult and Commerce, 203–4.

56. Early twentieth-century conservative Protestant polarities saw “enemies” such as urban life, Roman Catholicism, or Judaism, and later as communism; early twenty-first century “enemies” may appear as Islam or New Age ideology (Robert Wuthnow, Christianity in the 21st Century [New York: Oxford, 1993], 121). But John’s perspective does not allow such selective polarities; it is the whole world’s values versus the kingdom’s (though these overlap in practice even in much of the church).

57. Caird, Commentary on Revelation, 232.

58. Even many Romans, considering the fall of Troy, Assyria, the Medes, Persians, Macedonians, and Carthage, could acknowledge that all empires eventually perish (Appian, R.H. 8.19.132).

59. Michaels, Revelation, 204.

60. Concerning children of divorce, see Amy E. Black, “For the Sake of the Children: Reconstructing American Divorce Policy,” Crossroads Monograph Series on Faith and Public Policy 1 (1995); Douglas E. Adams, Children, Divorce and the Church (Nashville: Abingdon, 1992); Joan Guest, “The Biggest Divorce,” CT (Nov. 17, 1989), 30–32; “Breaking the Divorce Cycle,” NW (Jan. 13, 1992), 48–53; Kevin Chappell, “Co-Parenting After Divorce,” Ebony (March 1996), 60–64; David Gushee, “Tears of a Generation,” Prism 5 (Nov. 1998), 9–14, 23–26.

61. John Dawson, Healing America’s Wounds (Ventura, Calif.: Regal, 1994), 146–48.

62. On Reconstruction, see most fully Eric Foner, Reconstruction: America’s Unfinished Revolution, 1863–1877 (New York: Harper & Row, 1988); on Jim Crow some years later, see C. Vann Woodward, The Strange Career of Jim Crow (New York: Oxford, 1957). For further documentation, see notes in Glenn Usry and Craig Keener, Black Man’s Religion, 158.

63. On the northern migration and discrimination, see Ida Rousseau Mukenge, The Black Church in Urban America (Lanham, Md.: Univ. Press of America, 1983), 51–53; Usry and Keener, Black Man’s Religion, 50–52.

64. John Perkins compares ignoring the past to a baseball team caught cheating into the ninth inning promising, “We will play fair for the rest of the game.” He wonders if playing fair at this point might not require more than simply hoping that the losing team can play so well as to close the twenty-point gap in that final inning (John Perkins, With Justice For All [Ventura, Calif.: Regal, 1982], 169). A.M.E. Bishop Henry McNeal Turner long ago suggested that white U.S. churches (which long excluded blacks from participating in their missions enterprises) should support black missions involvement (see Gayraud S. Wilmore, Black Religion and Black Radicalism, 2d ed. [Maryknoll, N.Y.: Orbis, 1983], 123–24).

65. By contrast, a panel of conservative evangelical biblical scholars, including representatives from many major evangelical seminaries, unanimously concluded that Scripture teaches both corporate and intergenerational sin in some sense, affirming Promise Keepers’ commitment to reconciliation (Promise Keepers Theological Summit on Reconciliation, Denver, Colo., Sept. 6–7, 1996). The panel included myself and many noted conservative scholars, such as Walter Kaiser, Grant Osborne, and Craig Blomberg.

66. John Perkins, “Luncheon Address,” Reconcilers Fellowship “College, Ethnicity & Reconciliation” conference (Jackson, Miss., Jan. 24, 1998).

67. See John Perkins, Beyond Charity: The Call to Christian Community Development (Grand Rapids: Baker, 1993); Stephen E. Berk, A Time to Heal (Grand Rapids: Baker, 1997); see also resources from the Christian Community Development Association (3827 W. Ogden Ave., Chicago, IL 60623).

68. Cf. comments in Richard, Apocalypse, 135.

69. Charles Colson, Kingdoms in Conflict (Grand Rapids: Zondervan, 1987), 166. On the British slave trade, see also Mark Galli, “A Profitable Little Business,” Christian History 53 (1997): 20–22.

70. Colson, Kingdoms in Conflict, 95–108. See further Christopher D. Hancock, “The ‘Shrimp’ Who Stopped Slavery,” Christian History 53 (1997): 12–19.

71. See Justo L. González, “Lights in the Darkness,” 32–34; and John Maust, “Champions for the Oppressed,” Christian History 35 (1992): 35–38.

72. It should be noted, however, that many officers have worked to help the homeless (see Penni Roberts, “Helping the Homeless Is No Walk in Park for Officers,” www.phila-tribune.com/72897–4pl.htm, downloaded Apri. 21, 1999).

73. Cf. similar debates (from various perspectives) in “New Richmond Law Recognizes Churches’ Right to Feed the Needy” (Nov. 1997, at www.freedomforum.org); “S. L. Pastor Files Suit Against City: Citations for Aiding Needy Called Unconstitutional,” Salt Lake Tribune (Marc. 20, 1997); these examples were supplied by Fred Clark at Evangelicals for Social Action. See also comments on homelessness in Contemporary Significance of 6:1–8.

74. “The Re-education of Jim Bakker,” CT (Dec. 7, 1998), 62–64 (p. 62).

75. For a biblical perspective on possessions and justice, see esp. Craig L. Blomberg, Neither Poverty Nor Riches (Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 1999). For some perspectives on implementation, see Economic Justice for All: Pastoral Letter on Catholic Social Teaching and the U.S. Economy (Washington, D.C.: National Conference of Catholic Bishops, 1986).

76. Ronald J. Sider, Rich Christians in an Age of Hunger, 3d ed. (Dallas: Word, 1990), 38.

77. Colonial powers not only raped natural resources of many peoples for their own profit, they also repressed Christian missions in many areas; see Yusufu Turaki, “The British Colonial Legacy in Northern Nigeria” (Ph.D. diss., Boston University, 1982); Elizabeth Isichei, A History of Christianity in Africa From Antiquity to the Present (Lawrenceville, N.J.: Africa World Press; Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 1995), 233.

78. Andrew Sung Park, Racial Conflict and Healing, 34, 60. In the U.S., while the wealthiest 5 percent made an annual increase of over $6000 a year, the lowest 20 percent lost over $200 (Bread for the World Newsletter [Sept. 1998], 7); for increasing disparity, see also Economic Justice, 8, 90–91, citing U.S. Bureau of the Census statistics. American treatment of some individuals abroad may be illustrated by Chuck Colson’s haunting memory of his preconversion abuse of an impoverished old man for entering government property in the Caribbean (Loving God, 100–101).

79. Ellis Cose, “One Drop of Bloody History,” NW (Feb. 13, 1995), 70.

80. See Sider, Rich Christians, 19. Inequities within the United States also exceed any scale of pure meritocracy; if one excludes real estate (like houses), two percent of Americans (as of the 1980s earning annually over $125,000) hold 54 percent of the nation’s wealth (Economic Justice, 91, citing Federal Reserve Board statistics).

81. Economic Justice, 3. Although laziness exists and can cause or exacerbate poverty (Prov. 13:4; 19:24; 20:4; 21:25; 24:30–34; 2 Thess. 3:10), work is not available for everyone in all societies, and some jobs pay barely enough to cover rent and food, much less healthcare (cf. Economic Justice, 96)—as I know from my own experience for a few years after finishing Bible college, while pastoring and working in a restaurant part-time (how much more for those who could never afford to attend college).

82. Sider, Rich Christians, 9. Note that the infant mortality rate per 1000 live births is 7 in Sweden, 9 in the U.K., 10 in the U.S., 58 in Guatemala, 98 in India, and 172 in Mozambique (p. 12). To help us grasp the impact of the infant mortality rate number, some have compared it with eighty Boeing 747 jets full of children crashing each day, or the first atom bomb being dropped again every few days.

83. Ibid., 11.

84. Ibid.

85. Ronald J. Sider, “Evangelicals in the Balance,” Prism (March 1998), 36–37, 46 [p. 37, citing a U.N. study]).

86. Sider, Rich Christians, 19, 21, with statistics from the World Bank.

87. Ibid., 31 (1988 statistics). Australia provided aid at .46 percent; the United Kingdom at .32 percent; Japan at .31 percent; and New Zealand at .27 percent.

88. Economic Justice, 141 (citing 1985 statistics); U.S. defense expenditures in the mid–1980s were nearly $300 billion a year (ibid., 9).

89. Christianity is not tied to a particular economic system or to particular solutions, but Christians must evaluate all systems according to their impact on people, esp. those most vulnerable (Economic Justice, 66). Thus Milton Friedman, “Good Ends, Bad Means,” 99–106 in The Catholic Challenge to the American Economy, ed. Thomas M. Gannon (New York: Macmillan, 1987), objects to some of the ideas in Economic Justice, though strangely he views its claim that “adequate food” is a basic right as an infringement on the freedom of others (106)—exalting such freedom above others’ need to live.

90. For the same basic idea in greater detail, see Tony Campolo, Wake Up America (Grand Rapids: Zondervan, 1991), 5–10.

91. See Sider, “Balance,” 46.

92. One cannot read these Acts passages as negative models; they use ancient language depicting an ideal community (see academic sources cited in Craig Keener, The Spirit in the Gospels and Acts [Peabody, Mass.: Hendrickson, 1997], 198–99).

93. See Stan Guthrie, “Why Tony Spent the Night in a Chicken Coop,” Mission Today 94 (1994): 148–54. Cf. the fictitious experience of a Colombian pastor confronted with the excess of North American Christianity in Jim Reapsome, “Victor’s Reality Check,” Mountain Movers (April 1995), 30 (reprinted from Pulse [Dec. 2, 1994]); also the plea for simplicity as part of witness among missionaries in Roger S. Greenway, “Eighteen Barrels and Two Big Crates,” The 1994 Great Commission Handbook, 28–29, 36.

94. Cf. George Will,”Life and Death at Princeton,“NW (Sept. 13, 1999), 80–82. On prenatal development, see, e.g., Science Digest (Dec. 1982), 46–53. Doctors can now rescue premature babies small enough to fit in an adult’s palm (“Preemies,” NW (Ma. 16, 1988), 62–70; cf. “The Tiniest Patients,” NW (Jun. 11, 1990), 56; on programs for premature infants, see Elizabeth Sledden, “When Will Life Be Normal?” (Austin, Tex.: Hogg Foundation for Mental Health, 1989).

95. Abortions in the United States, first legalized in 1974, currently average about one and a half million a year (cf. “On Demand = Less Demand,” NW [Jun. 27, 1994], 49, despite their application of the data). The recently approved “morning-after” pill may make abortion statistics much more difficult to gather.

96. See International Christian Concern, 2020 Pennsylvania Ave. NW, No. 941, Washington, D.C. 20006.

97. Fred Clark, “USA*Engage,” Prism (July 1998), 30–31 (p. 30) (“USA*Engage” is the lobbying group for the largest exporters in the United States, many of whom do business with repressive regimes).

1. See also Tobit 13:18; 3 Macc. 7:13. Not surprisingly, it also appears in Aramaic texts (Aramaic incantation text 20.12). Shepherd, Liturgy, 78, finds parallels with Hallel Psalms (Ps. 113–18), some of which in Greek refer to the Exodus (Ps 114:1; LXX 113:1); but these account for only about one quarter of LXX uses.

2. For eschatological joy, see Isa. 66:10; Tobit 13:10–14; 1QM 17.7; Jub. 23:30; 1 Enoch 5:7; 25:6; 47:4; 103:3; Ps. Sol. 11:3; on exultation over the destruction of the wicked, see 1 Enoch 47:4; 94:10; 97:2; T. Job 43:17.

3. See Sib. Or. 3.504–6; cf. Jer. 17:4. The earliest image was eternal desolation (Deut. 13:16).

4. Beale, Revelation, 929.

5. The NIV’s present tense “reigns” may obscure the Greek aorist tense here, though the aorist’s sense may be inceptive.

6. Aune, Revelation, 3:1027, cites a Greek parallel to the voice that in 19:5 “acts as a choir director”; but this is common in the Psalms, reflecting the role of the Levite singers who prophesied in giving thanks to God (e.g., 1 Chron. 25:1; Ps. 95:1–2).

7. See S. Safrai, “Home and Family,” 728–92 in JPFC, 759. As symbols of joy, weddings contrast starkly with mourning (p. Ket. 1:1, §6; Jer. 7:34; Matt. 11:17).

8. E.g., m. Ab. 4:16; tos. Ber. 6:21; Matt. 8:11; abundantly in later sources, e.g., b. Ber. 34b; Sanh. 99a; Shab. 153a; Gen. Rab. 51:8; 62:2; Ex. Rab. 19:6; 45:6; Lev. Rab. 13:3; Num. Rab. 13:2; Koh. Rab. 9:8, §1; Pes. Rab. 41:5; see further Robert M. Johnston, “Parabolic Interpretations Attributed to Tannaim” (Ph.D. diss., Hartford Seminary Foundation, 1977), 593–94. Bridal language could apply to love for wisdom (Wisd. Sol. 8:2–3), but eschatological texts normally apply it to God’s relationship with Israel (Isa. 49:18; 61:10; 62:5).

9. For Leviathan as end-time food, see 2 Bar. 29:4; b. B.B. 74b–75a; Pes. Rab Kah. Sup. 2:4; Pes. Rab. 48:3.

10. E.g., Eph. 5:26; Ex. Rab. 23:5; Everett Ferguson, Backgrounds of Early Christianity (Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 1987), 54–55. The array could include white linen, bracelets, and costly ornaments with names inscribed (Jos. & Asen. 3:6/9–11; 4:1/2).

11. They can symbolize joy (p. R.H. 1:3, §27); hence the burial clothes of the righteous (Ps-Philo, 64:6; cf. Test. Abr. 20:10A; Life of Adam 48.1; Apoc. Moses 40.1–3; b. Ber. 18b).

12. On the garb of high-class prostitutes, see Ps-Melissa, Letter to Kleareta; moralists preferred moral adornment (e.g., Isocrates, Demon. 15, Or. 1; Crates, Ep. 9; 1 Tim. 2:10). The term for “righteous acts” appears elsewhere in this book only for God’s acts (Rev. 15:4).

13. Lev. Rab. 11:2.

14. The idea of an angel being moved by God’s Spirit probably would not have appeared problematic to John’s audience, for the same revelatory Spirit apparently is associated both with angels (cf. Ezek. 1:12, 20–21; 10:17; 1 En. 68:2) and humans (Ezek. 2:2; 1 En. 71:5). Angels as agents served a somewhat prophetic function (Zech. 1:14; Jub. 2:1).

15. See Col. 2:18; R. A. Kearsley, “Angels in Asia Minor: The Cult of Hosios and Dikaios,” 6:206–9 in New Documents Illustrating Early Christianity, ed. S. R. Llewelyn with R. A. Kearsley (North Ryde, N.S.W.: Ancient History Documentary Research Centre, Macquarie University, 1992); Kraabel, “Judaism in Western Asia Minor,” 143–45. In early Christian material, see Asc. Isa. 9:36. In view of the parallel between Michael and Christ in Rev. 12:7 (cf. 1:15), this passage may implicitly oppose an angel Christology (as is attested later; see Epiphanius, Her. 30.164–65; Jean Daniélou, The Theology of Jewish Christianity [Chicago: Henry Regnery, 1964], 67, 117; cf. G. Juncker, “Christ As Angel: The Reclamation of a Primitive Title,” TrinJ 15 [1994]: 221–250). See further R. Bauckham, “The Worship of Jesus in Apocalyptic Christianity,” NTS 27 (1981): 322–41.

16. See also David Hill, “Prophecy and Prophets in the Revelation of St. John,” NTS 18 (July 1972): 401–18 (414); cf. Acts 1:8; 2:17–18; 1 Cor. 14:1, 31.

17. On the belief in the suppression and restoration of the Spirit’s prophetic role in some early Jewish circles, see C. S. Keener, The Spirit in Gospels and Acts (Peabody, Mass.: Hendrickson, 1997), 13–16. On the attesting function, see also J. M. Ford, “ ‘For the Testimony of Jesus Is the Spirit of Prophecy’ (Rev 19:10),” ITQ 42 (1975): 284–91.

18. In later Jewish tradition, a Messiah’s inability to judge (by smell!) rendered him an impostor (b. Sanh. 93b).

19. On holy war imagery here and in Revelation, see Fiorenza, Revelation, 162; Bauckham, Climax of Prophecy, 210–37; S. G. F. Brandon, Zealots, 320, wrongly finds here an allusion to a Zealot tradition about the earthly Jesus. For holy war imagery, see also Jub. 38; in the end-time, see 1QM passim; 1 Enoch 1:4; for the saints’ role, see 1 Enoch 98:12; 4QpNah 4.3; 1QpHab 5.4; 1QM 14.7; 16.1.

20. So Homer, Il. 10.436–37. But for a contrary view, see Virgil, Georg. 3.82–83.

21. See Suetonius, Dom. 2; Jos. & Asen. 5:4/5; Livy, 5.28.1.

22. Some see the horseman as the antithesis of the Antichrist in 6:2 (M. Rissi, “Die Erscheinung Christi nach Off. 19,11–16,” TZ 21 [1965]: 81–95).

23. Angels also proved reluctant to reveal their names (Gen. 32:29; Judg. 13:18), perhaps to avoid supporting the pagan view that knowledge of a spirit’s name gives one power over it; but this reluctance does not suit the coming king (Mounce, Revelation, 345). Aune, Revelation, 3:1056, suggests that ancients feared deities with unknown names; this would be true especially of Israel’s God, whose name magicians tried to use (cf. Acts 19:13).

24. A horrible Fury is portrayed this way in Ovid, Metam. 4.481–84.

25. Though later texts sometimes apply this text to the Messiah (e.g., Pes. Rab. 37:2); cf. the midrashic combination with Isa. 63:2 also in the later Palestinian Targum to Gen. 49:10–11 (Martin McNamara, Targum and Testament [Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 1972], 141). On Isa. 63:2–3 here, see Fekkes, Isaiah, 197–99.

26. Warriors are sometimes portrayed as wetted with blood (Ps. 58:10; 1QM 14.2–3; cf. murderers in Isa. 1:15). The idea that it is here Jesus’ blood at the hands of his enemies (John A. T. Robinson, Twelve New Testament Studies, SBT 34 [London: SCM, 1962], 173) violates this context.

27. For the ideological interpretation, see e.g., Bowman, First Christian Drama, 129; cf. Job 5:15; Isa. 49:2. Even a noneschatological text associating the sword with Scripture implied literal execution (Sifre Deut. 40.7.2); for violent commands “from the mouth,” see also Judith 2:2–3.

28. Suetonius, Calig. 5; Plutarch, Pompey 38.2; on “great king,” see Herodian, 6.2.1.

29. The divine title also appears in Dan. 4:37 LXX; see T. B. Slater, “ ‘King of Kings and Lord of Lords’ Revisited,” NTS 39 (1993): 159–60, developing G. K. Beale’s application to 17:14.

30. For God as “King of kings,” see 1 Enoch 9:4; 84:2; 3 Macc. 5:35; Philo, Decal. 41; Spec. 3.18; PGM 13.605; 3 Enoch 22:15; 25:4; m. Ab. 3:1; tos. Sanh. 8:9; Sifra Sav Mekhilta De Milium 98.8.5; ARN, 25A; 1, §1B; Aramaic incantation text 67.2; pagans could apply the title to Zeus (Dio Chrysostom, Second Discourse on Kingship 75) or other high deities (PGM, 2.53–54; 4.640–42; Book of Dead Spells, 185Eb, part S–1).

31. Ford, Revelation, 323, citing Cicero, Verr. 4.43; Justinius, 15.4–5.

32. E.g., Homer, Il. 1.4–5; 22.42–43; Od. 3.258–60; Livy, 25.12.6; Appian, R.H. 11.10.64; Lucan, C.W. 7.831–35; on vulures specifically, see Aelian, 2.46; 10.22; Longinus, Sublime 3.2. Ancient writers often lapsed into poetic license when recounting battle slaughter (even to a degree in 1QM and 4QpNah 2.2–4).

33. For the fire, see 1 Enoch 54:5–6; 63:10; for the burning sulfur, 1QpHab 10.5; the later Apoc. Zeph. 6:1–2.

34. Thus even Lindsay, New World Coming, 255–56, places the supper during the Millennium, citing Jesus’ promise about the Father’s kingdom (Mark 14:25).

35. See Homer, Il. 5.367–69, 770–72; 17.444; Ovid, Metam. 4.214–16, 262–63, 765–86; Apollodorus, 2.3.2; 3.13.5. The chariot of a sorceress might be drawn by winged serpents (Ovid, Metam. 7.350); a goddess’s chariot might be drawn by winged dragons (8.795). Some ancients also conceived of deceased animals in the netherworld along with deceased people (Homer, Od. 11.572–75; Battle of Frogs and Mice 236; Aristophanes, Frogs 209–20; Virgil, Culex 208–384), although there is no reason to believe that these are deceased spirit-horses.

36. This interpretation assumes a typical premillennial reading. On an amillennial reading, Rev. 20 recapitulates the end-time battle already recounted in Rev. 19, so there is no conflict.

37. Muslims had also slaughtered noncombatants, including babies and the elderly, though taking young women as concubines (Ronald C. Finucane, “Women of the Cross,” Christian History 40 [1993]: 36–37 [p. 36]).

38. Often recorded (cf. Mark Galli, “Bloody Pilgrimage,” Christian History 40 [1993]: 8–15 [p. 15]).

39. See Bruce L. Shelley, “How Could Christians Do This?” Christian History 40 (1993): 16–19; cf. Adriaan H. Bredero, Christendom and Christianity in the Middle Ages, tr. R. Bruinsma (Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 1994), 19; some Crusades also redirected knights’ aggressions from each other to external aggressors (ibid., 107) and strengthened the pope’s political hand as head of Europe (Geoffrey Barraclough, The Medieval Papacy [New York: W. W. Norton, 168], 91). Cf. also the medieval predisposition to think in terms of blood feud, honor, and vengeance (Jonathan Riley-Smith, “Holy Violence Then and Now,” Christian History 40 [1993]: 42–45 [p. 43]).

40. Shelley, “Christians,” 19.

41. “The Patriot Movement,” Southern Poverty Law Center Intelligence Report (Spring 1998), 6–7.

42. “Identity Crisis,” Southern Poverty Law Center Intelligence Report (Winter 1988), 7–12 (p. 12).

43. “Religion Stokes the Fires,” Southern Poverty Law Center Intelligence Report (Winter 1998), 2. In May 1998 three survivalists killed and wounded police officers in Colorado after reportedly preparing desert bunkers for the world’s end (Southern Poverty Law Center Intelligence Report [Summer 1998], 3); those of us who argue for a consistent prolife ethic will also be disturbed by “anti-abortion” terrorism and its developing connections with white supremacist terrorism (see Frederick Clarkson, “Anti-Abortion Extremism,” Southern Poverty Law Center Intelligence Report [Summer 1998], 8–16).

44. “Identity Crisis,” 7.

45. Ibid. Many others are turning to neopagan, Norse religion (like the Aryan supremacists of the leaders of Hitler’s Third Reich) for support; see “The New Barbarians,” Southern Poverty Law Center Intelligence Report (Winter 1998), 15–16.

46. William Stringfellow, An Ethic for Christians and Other Aliens in a Strange Land, 3d ed. (Waco, Tex.: Word, 1979), 25 (this book was brought to my attention by John Herzog of Bethel College).

47. See Timothy Jones, “Rumors of Angels?” CT (Apri. 5, 1993), 18–22; Kenneth L. Woodward, “Angels,” NW (Dec. 27, 1993), 52–57. For one example, see Joyce Keller, “Your Angel Astrology Love Diet: How Your Guardian Angel and Star Sign Can Work Together to Make You Slimmer and Happier” (Lantana, Fla.: MicroMags, 1998). Keller claims to be “clairvoyant since birth,” a psychic and hypnotherapist, and warns that “any angelic intercession has to be within our soul’s karmic pattern” (p. 4). The booklet advocates invoking angels for weight loss (p. 7) and counsels (in the name of a zodiac angel) to marry hastily, repenting “at leisure” (p. 61).

48. We read “testimony of Jesus” as an objective genitive (Bruce, “The Spirit in the Apocalypse,” 338), but the subjective element is not necessarily incompatible here (Boring, Sayings, 106).

49. See my discussion of this issue in greater detail in Keener, 3 Questions, 35–61. On all believers as the prophetic community, see F. F. Bruce, The Time Is Fulfilled (Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 1978), 103; E. Schweizer, “πνεῦμα, πνευματικός,” 6:389–51 in TDNT, 449.

50. See Deere, Surprised by the Voice of God, 33–36.

51. For comments on nineteenth-century evangelical postmillennialism and the twentieth-century experiences that shattered its excessive optimism, see comments on Revelation 20, below; also see esp. Stanley Grenz, The Millennial Maze (Downers Grove, Ill.: InterVarsity, 1992), 65–89.

1. For various views on the millennium, see Robert G. Clouse, ed., The Meaning of the Millennium (Downers Grove, Ill.: InterVarsity, 1977). For a more complete survey of millennial views from the Reformation forward, see Petersen, Preaching in the Last Days, 232–47.

2. Many premillennialists are not sure whether the period is literally one thousand years or whether that might be a symbolic number (see Johnson, Revelation, 189–90); dispensationalists usually take it literally whereas historic premillennialists more often interpret it as simply a lengthy period (Lewis, Questions, 127). For arguments that it is nonliteral, see Beale, Revelation, 1017–21.

3. Joachim of Fiore (c. 1135–1202) thought Revelation predicted in detail the course of history, but did allow recapitulation (Wainwright, Mysterious Apocalypse, 49–53), though others saw it as in chronological sequence (pp. 53–55).

4. See R. Fowler White, “Reexamining the Evidence for Recapitulation in Rev 20:1–10,” WTJ 51 (1989): 319–44; Meredith G. Kline, “Har Magedon: The End of the Millennium,” JETS 39 (June 1996): 207–22.

5. “To John it is not a case of the same story being told twice, but of history repeating itself” (Michaels, Revelation, 226).

6. For symbolic views, see Norman Shepherd, “The Resurrections of Revelation 20,” WTJ 37 (1974): 34–43; James A. Hughes, “Revelation 20:4–6 and the Question of the Millennium,” WTJ 35 (1973): 281–302; Meredith G. Kline, “The First Resurrection,” WTJ 37 (1975): 366–75; Philip E. Hughes, “The First Resurrection: Another Interpretation,” WTJ 39 (Spring 1977): 315–18; Paul A. Rainbow, “Millennium as Metaphor in John’s Apocalypse,” WTJ 58 (Fall 1996): 209–21; for a careful and detailed amillennial interpretation, see especially Beale, Revelation, 972–1021. For various premillennial interpretations, cf. George E. Ladd, “Revelation 20 and the Millennium,” RevExp 57 (1960): 167–75; Jack S. Deere, “Premillennialism in Revelation 20:4–6,” BibSac 135 (Jan. 1978): 58–73; J. Ramsey Michaels, “The First Resurrection: A Response,” WTJ 39 (1976): 100–109. Walvoord emphasizes that the new birth occurs during this age, not before (Prophecy Knowledge Handbook, 626).

7. Michaels, Revelation, 222.

8. Among scholars, see Leon Morris, Apocalyptic (Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 1972), 44–45. For the intermediate messianic kingdom, see 2 Bar. 40:3; Sib. Or. 3.741–59, 767–95; T. Abr. 13A; Sifre Deut. 34.4.3; b. Pes. 68a.

9. See Bonsirven, Judaism, 212–13, on R. Eliezer. For three generations, see Sifre Deut. 310.5.1; Pes. Rab. Kah. 3:16.

10. See b. Sanh. 97ab, although also listing various other schemes; perhaps Ps-Philo, 28:8, variant reading; Life of Adam 51:2 (contrast parallel in Apoc. Mos. 43:3). One thousand years was the longevity of the mythical phoenix (Gen. Rab. 19:5); pagans could employ one thousand years for cycles between reincarnations (Plato, Rep. 10.621D; cf. less definite period in Phaedo 113E–114B) or the longevity of the Sibyl (Ovid, Metam. 14.144); see other pagan parallels in Beasley-Murray, Revelation, 286. For these views in early Christianity, see Chadwick, Church, 78 n. 1. Cf. use of the “millennium” in the Soncino translations of Gen. Rab. 20:1; Ex. Rab. 25:3, 8, 12; 32:9; 45:6.

11. Aune, Revelation, 3:830–31, citing the Oracles of Hystaspes.

12. See further Moyise, The Old Testament in Revelation, 66–67; Rissi, Time and History, 116; Beasley-Murray, Revelation, 288–89; Ladd, Theology, 557; Boring, Revelation, 209. Ryrie, Revelation, 115, envisions a different battle because “the time is different (Ezek. 38:16) and the judgment is dissimilar (Ezek. 38:19–22).”

13. Caird, Commentary on Revelation, 250–51.

14. Jub. 5:6; cf. 10:5–7, 11. For further examples of binding evil angels or others who are evil, cf. also 1 Enoch 10:12–14; 13:1; 14:5; 21:3–4; 22:11; 90:23; T. Levi 18:12.

15. See T. Sol. 3:7; ch. 18.

16. See Jub. 23:29; 50:5; Ass. Moses 10:1; T. Levi 18:12. For events within history, Jub. 48:15–18; cf. 40:10; 46:2. Aune, Revelation, 3:1081, relates the image (probably rightly) to the binding of Titans in Greek myth.

17. E.g., Livy, 2.5.8; Seneca, Dial. 3.18.4; m. Sanh. 7:3; ARN, 38 A; John E. Stambaugh and David L. Balch, The New Testament in Its Social Environment, LEC 2 (Philadelphia: Westminster, 1986), 35. See Aune, Revelation, 3:1086, for further details.

18. Cf. Rissi, Time and History, 117; Ladd, Theology, 628–29; Michaels, Interpreting Revelation, 136. Neither interpretation leaves much room for a stage of the resurrection preceding the “first” resurrection (pace Strombeck, Rapture, 194).

19. Michaels, Interpreting Revelation, 135–36.

20. See Gen. 22:17; 32:12; 41:49; Judg. 7:12; 1 Sam. 13:5; 2 Sam. 17:11; 1 Kings 4:20; Isa. 10:22; 48:19; Jer. 15:8; 33:22; Hos. 1:10; Hab. 1:9.

21. On the “four corners,” cf. comment on 7:1. On Ezekiel’s use of Gog and Magog and other terms, see especially Edwin M. Yamauchi, Foes from the Northern Frontier (Grand Rapids: Baker, 1982). In this period, some interpreters held “Magog” to refer to the Scythians; see Josephus, Ant. 1.123; Jub. 9:8 (though Sib. Or. 3.319–20 places Magog in the south).

22. E.g., 4QpIs fr.; 1QM 11.15–16; tos. Ber. 1:11; Mekilta Amalek 2.115–16; Sifra Behuq. pq. 8.269.2.15; Sifre Num. 76.2.1; Pes. Rab Kah. 22:5; Ex. Rab. 12:2; Midr. Ps. 17.9 on 17:13; note the exaggerated numbers in b. Sanh. 95b. These are normally distinguished from messianic times following the Messiah’s triumph (Sifre Deut. 343.7.1; b. A.Z. 3b; Pes. Rab Kah. 27:5; Gen. Rab. 88:5; though cf. 3 Enoch 45:5). Cf. the end-time “army of Belial” (Satan) in 1QM 11.8; 15.2–3; and the camp of the saints (1QM 3.5).

23. See b. Sanh. 94a (although here candidates for end-time Messiah can also shift); 1 Enoch 56:5 substitutes Parthians for Magog.

24. See Beasley-Murray, Revelation, 297 (citing 4 Ezra 13:5–11; Sib. Or. 3.662–68; cf. Sib. Or. 3.319, 512).

25. For such judgments against end-time Magog, see Sib. Or. 3.669–74, 685–92; against Rome in 3.52; against the new Nero and other kings in 5.377–79; cf. other divine destruction in 1 Enoch 56:7–8; 1QM 11.16. For fire from heaven to destroy God’s enemies, see further Wisd. Sol. 10:6; 2 Bar. 27:10; T. Zeb. 10:3; cf. Sib. Or. 1.79; 2.252–53; in pagan texts, cf. Athenaeus, Deipnosophists 12.523ab.

26. For God’s protection of his people in the end time, like a wall of fire around them, see Sib. Or. 3.705–6 (drawing on the image of Zech. 2:5); for later texts, see Ira Chernus, “ ‘A Wall of Fire Round About’: The Development of a Theme in Rabbinic Midrash,” JJS 30 (1979): 68–84.

27. Cf. Heb. 13:11, 13; 1QM 3.5; 4.9; over seventy-five times for the Exodus camp in the LXX.

28. For the Day of Judgment, see also 1 Enoch 90:20; Pes. Rab Kah. Sup. 2:2.

29. See Jub. 28:6; 39:6; 1 Enoch 39:2; 81:1–4; 89:70–71; 91:14; 93:1–3; 98:7–8; 104:7; 2 Enoch 19:5; 44:5 A; 3 Enoch 44:9; T. Ab. 10 B; 12 A; Apoc. Zeph. 3:6–9; 7:1–6. In some sources the “book of the living” might be distinct from this (Apoc. Zeph. 9:2), concerning who will die and whom he will raise (3 Enoch 18:24–25; b. R.H. 32b).

30. On the book of life, see comment on 3:5; on being judged “according to what [they] had done,” see comment on 22:12.

31. Angels could break the gates of Hades to bring the wicked to judgment (Sib. Or. 2.228–30).

32. So also Bauckham, Climax of Prophecy, 56–61 (citing also 2 Bar. 21:23; 42:8; 50:2).

33. See ibid., 68 (citing 1 Enoch 61:5; Sib. Or. 2.233), though Bauckham prefers to see this “sea” as a synonym for the realm of the dead; Aune, Revelation, 3:1102. Cf. esp. Achilles, Tatius 5.16.1–2

34. For Satan thrown into the eternal fire (20:10), see T. Jud. 25:3; for human rulers, 1 Enoch 54:1–2; for the Wicked Priest (an antichrist figure), 1QpHab 10.4–5; for all the wicked, 1 Enoch 100:9; 108:3; 1QpHab 10.13; 4 Ezra 7:36; Gen. Rab. 20:1. For the ancient “river of fire” see C. S. Keener, A Commentary on the Gospel of Matthew (Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 1999), 129; cf. Egyptian Book of the Dead, Spell 17b, part S3.

35. For the annihilationist position, see “John’s Stott’s Response to Chapter 6,” 306–31 in David L. Edwards and John Stott, Evangelical Essentials: A Liberal-Evangelical Dialogue (Downers Grove, Ill.: InterVarsity, 1988), 313–20; Marie-Émile Boismard, “Le sort des impies dans l’Apocalypse,” Lumière et Vie 45 (1996): 69–79; for annihilation after or without a resurrection of the lost, see Ps. Sol. 3:11–12; 13:11; 1QS 4.13–14; most sinners in tos. Sanh. 13:3.

36. See Wainwright, Mysterious Apocalypse, 21–30. Larry V. Crutchfield, “The Apostle John and Asia Minor as a Source of Premillennialism in the Early Church Fathers,” JETS 31 (1988): 411–27, suggests John’s influence in Asia Minor spawned the millenarianism of the early Asian fathers. Some argue that the church fathers derived the view from Jewish apocalyptic messianic kingdoms rather than from Revelation (Leonhard Goppelt, Theology of the New Testament, 2 vols., tr. J. E. Alsup, ed. J. Roloff [Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 1981–1982], 2:194).

37. Frags. 4, 6; in Irenaeus, Her. 5.32; Eusebius, H.E. 3.39.

38. See his Dial. 80 and 81.

39. Irenaeus, Her. 5.34–35.

40. Eusebius, H.E. 7.24. On early amillennialism, see Wainwright, Mysterious Apocalypse, 33–48.

41. Kyle, The Last Days, 39.

42. For medieval views, see ibid., 41–54; for the Reformers, 55–76; David Wright, “Millennium Today,” 13–15, and John R. Franke, “Salvation Now, Salvation Forever,” Christian History 61 (1999):20–22.

43. Wesley, Commentary on the Bible, 608–9, is largely premillennial, but sees two distinct thousand-year periods, one in which the devil is bound (20:2–3, 7) and a second and subsequent one in which the saints reign (20:4–6; ibid., 610).

44. For the latter, see Johann Gottfried Eichhorn (1752–1827), cf. Wainwright, Mysterious Apocalypse, 127. More recently, cf. Feuillet, Apocalypse, 120–21.

45. See Sydney H. T. Page, “Revelation 20 and Pauline Eschatology,” JETS 23 (1980): 31–43. Some make the Millennium symbolic of the old economy (Corsini, Apocalypse, 369).

46. On the revival of premillennialism, see Wainwright, Mysterious Apocalypse, 67–87.

47. For the history of dispensational thought, see Craig A. Blaising, “The Extent and Varieties of Dispensationalism,” 9–56 in Progressive Dispensationalism, by Craig A. Blaising and Darrell L. Bock (Wheaton, Ill.: Bridgepoint, Victor, 1993); cf. Timothy P. Weber, “How Evangelicals Became Israel’s Best Friend,” CT (Oct. 5, 1998), 38–49; other perspectives in Charles C. Ryrie, Dispensationalism Today (Chicago: Moody, 1965), 74–76.

48. See Steven R. Pointer, “Seeing the Glory,” Christian History 61 (1999): 28–30. For a careful articulation of the postmillennial perspective, see especially Kenneth L. Gentry Jr., “Postmillennialism,” 11–57 in Three Views on the Millennium, ed. D. Bock (Grand Rapids: Zondervan, 1999). The most defensible form is the view that Rev. 19 depicts Jesus’ judgment (symbolically) on Rome and chapter 20 is Jesus final coming.

49. See the views in Stanley J. Grenz, The Millennial Maze: Sorting Out Evangelical Options (Downers Grove, Ill.: InterVarsity, 1992); Kyle, The Last Days, 79–81. Many medieval chiliasts also expected a golden age of indeterminate length after Antichrist’s defeat and before Christ’s coming (Kyle, ibid., 53). In secularized and liberal forms, postmillennial optimism could yield America’s Manifest Destiny or something like Germany’s Thousand-Year Reich.

50. Some do find an intermediate kingdom in that text (cf. Hans Joachim Schoeps, Paul: The Theology of the Apostle in the Light of Jewish Religious History, tr. H. Knight [Philadelphia: Westminster, 1961], 105; Rissi, Time and History, 126). But the grammar is unclear (W. D. Davies, Paul and Rabbinic Judaism: Some Rabbinic Elements in Pauline Theology, 4th ed. [Philadelphia: Fortress, 1980], 292–93; T. Francis Glasson, The Second Advent: The Origin of the New Testament Doctrine, 3d rev. ed. [London: Epworth, 1963], 212; Gordon Fee, The First Epistle to the Corinthians [Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 1987], 753).

51. See Talbert, Apocalypse, 93–94, who cites various strands and some Jewish writings that include both views; also Aune, Revelation, 3:1104–8. Cf. also Morris, Apocalyptic, 51; D. S. Russell, The Method and Message of Jewish Apocalyptic (Philadelphia: Westminster, 1964), 286–97.

52. Craig Blaising, “Premillennialism,” 157–227, in Three Views on the Millennium, 160–64, contrasts the “spiritual vision model” (which emphasizes only the heavenly and spiritual) with the “new creation model” (which emphasizes embodied life on earth). But Robert B. Strimple, “An Amillennial Response to Craig A. Blaising,” 256–76 in ibid., responds that modern amillennialists do not hold to a purely nonphysical eschatological hope (259).

53. Some popular dispensationalists have tried to settle issues by appealing simply to the “literal” meaning of texts (Lindsey, New World Coming, 267), without acknowledging that they themselves cannot take all the texts literally.

54. Some may appeal to Matt. 24:40–41 to allow that some will be “left,” but in context those who are “taken” are taken to judgment (24:39), and even if those who “left” are not Christians it is not clear that they will be left very long.

55. For one view affirming both a new Israel (including both Jewish and Gentile Christians) and an eschatological conversion of ethnic Israel, see Thomas R. Schreiner, “The Church As the New Israel and the Future of Ethnic Israel in Paul,” Studia Biblica et Theologica 13 (April 1983): 17–38.

56. See Ford, Revelation, 351.

57. For ways that different presuppositions lead to different conclusions in views of the Millennium, see Darrell L. Bock, “Summary Essay,” 279–309 in Three Views on the Millennium, 285–90; one major issue is how the Old Testament relates to the New (ibid., 290–93).

58. One readable survey of Old Testament background for eschatology is Lewis, Questions, 19–49.

59. To be sure, outside of Rom. 11 the New Testament provides little explicit indication of Israel’s restoration (though cf. Matt. 23:39; Acts 3:19–21), but the early Christians had to spend more time defending their inclusion of Gentile Christians in the people of God. This is a matter of emphasis and audience, not a matter of contradiction. Justin’s replacement theology (Justin, Dial. 11; 119; 123; 135) is far more graphic (see Ben Zion Bokser, “Justin Martyr and the Jews,” JQR 64 [Oct. 1973]: 97–122 (p. 99); [Jan. 1974]: 204–11 (p. 208); Eric F. Osborn, Justin Martyr [Tübingen: J. C. B. Mohr, 1973], 175–78).

60. See Craig S. Keener, The Spirit in the Gospels and Acts (Peabody, Mass.: Hendrickson, 1997), 62–64, 146–48.

61. For an important Messianic Jewish perspective, see Daniel Juster, Jewish Roots: A Foundation of Biblical Theology (Shippensburg, Pa.: Destiny Image, 1995); for a history of part of the movement, see Yohanna Chernoff with Jimi Miller, Born a Jew … Die a Jew: The Story of Martin Chernoff, a Pioneer in Messianic Judaism (Hagerstown, Md.: EBED, 1996); Robert I. Winer, The Calling: The History of the Messianic Jewish Alliance 1915–1990 (Wynnewood, Pa.: Messianic Jewish Alliance of America, 1990).

62. Michaels, Revelation, 220. With I. T. Beckwith and Robert Mounce, Michaels argues for a future millennium that is not necessarily literal, a buffer between the Roman empire’s collapse and the ultimate end of the age, an interim period that in fact happened (cf. also Caird).

63. See Talbert, Apocalypse, 96–97 (citing on creation, e.g., Gen. 1:1–2:3; 2:4–24; Ps. 74:12–17; 104); Boring, Revelation, 205–6; cf. Mounce, Revelation, 359.

64. Kyle, The Last Days, 61.

65. Rather, these peoples were Moschi and Tibareni known in ancient Asia Minor (see Mounce, Revelation, 362 n. 28). Lindsey’s emphasis on Russia as “Gog” became more difficult after the breakup of the Soviet Union (Robert G. Clouse, “Late Great Predictions,” Christian History 61 [1999]: 40–41).

66. For their original meaning (“Gog” is probably based on a Lydian king in what is today Turkey), see Yamauchi, Foes, as noted above.

67. Beale, Revelation, 1025.

68. See Revelation: Grand Climax, 289, 300.

69. Cf. Arthur D. Katterjohn with Mark Fackler, The Tribulation People (Carol Stream, Ill.: Creation House, 1976), 77. Tenney, Revelation, 159, warns other premillennialists not to exaggerate the Millennium’s importance, since the eternal state is our goal; likewise, Oscar Cullmann, The Early Church, ed. A. J. B. Higgins (London: SCM, 1956), 156, emphasizes the essence rather than the details.

70. Barbara Wootten Snyder, “How Millennial Is the Millennium? A Study in the Background of the 1000 Years in Revelation 20,” Evangelical Journal 9 (Fall 1991): 51–74, argues that the “thousand years” communicates theology about Jesus as the Messiah; whether the duration is literal is less urgent.

71. See Talbert, Apocalypse, 95. In Jewish texts, see, e.g., Sifre Deut. 318.1.10; there would be neither merit nor guilt in the intermediate messianic period when temptation was abolished (Koh. Rab. 12:1, §1). Cf. traces of sin, inviting a heroic new war, in the utopian vision of Roman hope for the Augustan era (Virgil, Ecl. 4.4–7, 31–36).

72. Pes. Rab Kah. 9:11.

73. Pes. Rab. 31:9.

1. Also associated in Jub. 1:29. On ancient utopias, see Aune, Revelation, 3:1191–94.

2. See the eschatological new creation in Jub. 1:29; 4:26; 1 Enoch 72:1; 2 Bar. 44:9; 2 Peter 3:13.

3. Even a literal “replacement” need not imply a creation from nothing. Cf. Gale Z. Heide, “What Is New About the New Heaven and the New Earth? A Theology of Creation from Revelation 21 and 2 Peter 3,” JETS 40 (1997): 37–56 (transformation of the present creation rather than recreation from nothing).

4. E.g., Beasley-Murray, Revelation, 307.

5. Rissi, Future of the World, 55.

6. Such a destruction need not imply that water ceases (cf. 22:1); whereas the sea is dried up in Sib. Or. 5.447–48, other places for water are formed in 5.449.

7. Virgil also envisioned an era of prosperity in which ships would no longer trade because all lands would bear sufficient fruits (Ecl. 4.37–39).

8. Cf. the “heavenly city” (Sib. Or. 2.40), “heavenly Jerusalem” (4 Ezra 10:25–28), “the city above” (4 Bar. 5:35).

9. For restoration, see also b. Ber. 44a; Pes. Rab. 17:2. For a new or hidden Jerusalem, Roloff, Revelation, 235, cites also 4 Ezra 8:52; 10:27, 54; 13:36; one might add b. Hag. 12b; the Qumran New Jerusalem text. On analogous heavenly/earthly parallels in apocalyptic texts, see Ford, Revelation, 361. Jewish tradition also knew God “descending” to dwell with his people in the future (Jub. 1:26). Something built by a deity was considered much greater than what was built merely by human hands (Apuleius, Metam. 5.1).

10. In some Jewish texts, God himself would rebuild Jerusalem (1 Enoch 90:29; Pes. Rab. 26:7; 28:1; 33:1; probably 4 Ezra 8:52; cf. Ps. 147:2); for a full discussion of restoration eschatology, see E. P. Sanders, Jesus and Judaism (Philadelphia: Fortress, 1985), 77–90.

11. Neh. 11:1, 18; Ps. 46:4; Isa. 48:2; 52:1; Dan. 9:16, 24; Zech. 8:3; Sir. 36:13; Tob. 13:9; 2 Macc. 3:1; 11QTemple 47:14–15; Matt. 4:5; 27:53.

12. Most commentators recognize New Jerusalem as a people or at least including the people; e.g., Robert H. Gundry, “The New Jerusalem: People As Place, Not Place for People,” NovT 29 (3, 1987): 254–64; Bruce, Message, 87.

13. The Targum to Ps. 48, of uncertain date, also portrays Jerusalem as a bride (Ford, Revelation, 361). For early Christian portrayals, see L. Cerfaux, The Church in the Theology of St. Paul, tr. G. Webb and A. Walker (New York: Herder & Herder, 1959), 360.

14. See a more detailed description of the adornment in 21:11–21, below. For details about the adornment, see comment on 19:7. Linen (19:8) and pearls (21:21) represent regular adornment for brides from wealthy homes (Fekkes, Isaiah, 249, citing Pliny, Ep. 5.16).

15. For the Jewish expectation, see Jub. 25:21; Life of Adam 29:7; Sifra Behuq. pq. 3.263.1.5. On the development of the biblical promise here, see especially Walter C. Kaiser Jr., “The Old Promise and the New Covenant: Jeremiah 31:31–34,” 106–20 in The Bible in Its Literary Milieu, ed. V. L. Tollers and J. R. Maier (Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 1979), 114; though Fekkes, Isaiah 169, sees esp. Ezek. 37:27. Appropriate to the bridal context (21:2), Fekkes, Isaiah, 248, thinks that 21:3 recalls a covenant formula ultimately resembling ancient Near Eastern marriage contracts.

16. For a restored temple, see 1 Enoch 90:28–29; Jub. 1:27–28; Tobit 13:10; 14:5; Sib. Or. 3.657–60, 702, 772–74; 2 Bar. 4:3; 32:4; tos. R.H. 2:9; Shab. 1:13; the fourteenth benediction of the Amida (Oesterley, Background, 65); cf. also surrogate temple features in synagogues (e.g., T. Friedman, “Some Unexplained Features of Ancient Synagogues,” Conservative Judaism 36 [1983]: 35–42). For eschatological “tabernacles,” see T. Abr. 20 A; 2 Enoch 65:10, rec. J; b. B.B. 75a.

17. The matter is uncertain: a few earlier manuscripts have the plural, considered the more difficult hence the more probable reading, but a wider geographical distribution favors the singular. For the pros and cons with slight weight favoring the plural, see Bruce M. Metzger, A Textual Commentary on the New Testament, 2d ed. (New York: United Bible Societies, 1975), 763; in favor of the plural, see F. F. Bruce, The Message of the New Testament (Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 1981), 87 n. 8.

18. Some Jewish writers also spoke of present transformation, as when Wisdom makes “all things new” (Wisd. Sol. 7:27); but the usual complete hope was for the future new creation (see comments on 21:1). Much later rabbis also applied this eschatological image to a present new beginning (Lev. Rab. 29:12), consonant with their image that one who converted another “created” him (Sifre Deut. 32.2.1; ARN 12A; 26, §54B); God would also “create” a new heart for his people (Jub. 1:20–21).

19. For Jewish sources, see Jub. 32:19; 1 Enoch 5:7; 4 Ezra 6:59; 7:96; 2 Bar. 51:3; Mek. Beshallah 7.139–40. See esp. Jer. 3:19; Zech. 8:12.

20. In Jewish tradition, see Jub. 2:19; 12:24; 15:32.

21. For the public vindication of God’s servants as his children in the end time, cf. Jub. 1:24–25; Ps. Sol. 17:30; Sib. Or. 3.702–4.

22. On groups excluded from inside the city walls, see Richard L. Rohrbaugh, “The Pre-Industrial City in Luke-Acts: Urban Social Relations,” 125–49 in The Social World of Luke-Acts: Models for Interpretation, ed. J. H. Neyrey (Peabody, Mass.: Hendrickson, 1991), 145. Cf. exclusion from Eden in Gen. 3:24.

23. The exclusion of the wicked from enjoying the new creation was assumed (1 Enoch 45:5); this also applies to new Jerusalem (b. B.B. 75b, at least attributed to a first-century teacher).

24. For vice lists, see Plato, Laws 1.649D; Aristotle, E.E. 2.3.4, 1220b–21a; V.V. 1249a–51b; Epictetus,. Disc. 2.8.23; Diogenes, Ep. 36 (to Timomachus); Maximus of Tyre, Disc. 36.4; 1QS 4.9–11; Wisd. Sol. 14:25–26; Philo, Sac. 32; Post. 52; Sib. Or. 2.255–82; T. Levi 17:11; Rom. 1:28–32; Did. 5.1–2. For end-time vice lists for the judgment, see 1QS 4.9–11; Sib. Or. 2.255–82 (Christian material); b. Sanh. 103a. For contextualizations of this list similar to our own, see Mounce, Revelation, 375; Kraybill, Imperial Cult and Commerce, 199.

25. Philosophers also condemned cowardice (e.g., Epictetus, Disc. 1.9.33; Aune, Revelation, 3:1131, cites texts applying it to moral degradation), but Revelation applies it more contextually. Johannine literature also applies “fear” to uncertainty about the Judgment Day (1 John 4:18) and unbelief to failure to overcome (5:4).

26. For idolatry, most clearly Deut. 7:25–26; 12:31; 13:13–14; 17:3–4; 18:9–12; 20:18; 27:15; 29:17; 32:16; 1 Kings 11:5, 33; 21:26; 2 Kings 16:3; 17:32; 21:2, 11; 23:13; 2 Chron. 15:8; 28:3; 33:2; 34:33; 36:14; Isa. 2:8, 20; 17:8; 44:19; 66:3; Jer. 7:30–31; 16:18; 32:35; 44:17–23; Ezek. 5:11; 6:9; 7:20; 8:10; 20:7–8, 30; Hos. 9:10; Zech. 9:7.

27. Many Jews would have accepted the damnation of sorcerers (Sib. Or. 2.283; cf. 1 Enoch 65:5; Asc. Isa. 2:5). Nevertheless, many Jews in following centuries participated in what we would regard as magical practices (e.g., CIJ, 2:62–65, §819; b. Sanh. 65b; Judah Goldin, “The Magic of Magic and Superstition,” 115–47 in Aspects of Religious Propaganda in Judaism and Early Christianity, ed. E. Schüssler Fiorenza, UNDCSJCA 2 [Notre Dame: Univ. of Notre Dame Press, 1976]).

28. Jewish tradition also expected the damnation of liars (cf., Sir. 20:25; ARN 45, §§125–26B). In Revelation liars are those committed “to that fundamental falsity which is the nature of the dragon and his earthly agents,” the world’s deception (Caird, Commentary on Revelation, 267), which includes idolatry (Isa. 44:20).

29. E.g., Isocrates, Panathenaicus and Panegyricus. For Israel as a “city,” cf. Pes. Rab Kah. 24:11. For praising cities as if people, cf. David L. Balch, “Two Apologetic Encomia: Dionysius on Rome and Josephus on the Jews,” JSJ 13 (1982): 102–22.

30. See J. Licht, “An Ideal Town Plan From Qumran—The Description of the New Jerusalem,” IEJ 29 (1979): 45–59.

31. Some end-time visions are predominantly rural (Joel 3:18; Sib. Or. 3.744–49; cf. Virgil, Ecl. passim), but for an urban audience this urban future is more appropriate (cf. Sib. Or. 3.750–51).

32. For the seven visionary mountains of paradise, see 1 En. 18:6–8; 24:1–3; 77:4. Jewish depictions of Jerusalem placed it on a mountain (Ep. Arist. 83–84, 105–6; Jub. 4:26), especially in utopian texts (cf. exaggerations in Ep. Arist. 116); the Old Testament regularly calls Zion God’s “holy mountain” (e.g., Ps. 2:6; 3:4; 48:1; Ezek. 20:40; Joel 2:1).

33. See across several centuries e.g., Sir. 36:16; Pes. Rab Kah. Sup. 6:2.

34. Kraybill, Imperial Cult and Commerce, 212.

35. Judaism traditionally linked all twelves with Israel’s tribes, e.g., the twelve months (Jub. 25:16); though some twelves evoked the zodiac (e.g., Josephus, Ant. 3.186; War 5.217), this, too, could represent Israel (cf. Pes. Rab Kah. 16:5; Ex. Rab. 15:6; Pes. Rab. 4:1; 29/30A:6).

36. Kraybill, Imperial Cult and Commerce, 211–12.

37. Also noted in later Jewish tradition, e.g., Ep. Arist. 97; Josephus, War 5.234; Ant. 3.169; Ex. Rab. 38:8–9.

38. See Joseph M. Baumgarten, “The Duodecimal Courts of Qumran, Revelation, and the Sanhedrin,” JBL 95 (March 1976): 59–78 (p. 77). Note also Qumran’s application of foundation walls to its leadership council of twelve in 1QS 8.7–8 (Raymond E. Brown, “The Dead Sea Scrolls and the New Testament,” 1–8 in John and Qumran, ed. J. H. Charlesworth [London: Geoffrey Chapman, 1972], 7).

39. Qumran depictions of new Jerusalem also include an angel who measures (Vermes cites 5Q 15; cf. 1Q32; 2Q24; 5Q15). For indescribable splendor of heavenly dwellings, see 1 Enoch 14:15.

40. By contrast, Babylon and Alexandria’s walls had a circumference of only nine miles, and famed Nineveh was even smaller (Aune, Revelation, 3:1160).

41. Traditionally including Babylon and Nineveh. 5Q 15 has an orthogonal design as in some ancient cities (Michael Chyutin, “The New Jerusalem: Ideal City,” Dead Sea Discoveries 1 [1994]: 71–97). The square also symbolizes perfection in some texts (Talbert, Apocalypse, 101, cites Plato, Protagoras 344A; Aristotle, Rhet. 3.11.2).

42. Aune, Revelation, 3:1159–60.

43. Kraybill, Imperial Cult and Commerce, 211.

44. The square shape (one dimension short of a cube) is also significant in new temple and new Jerusalem imagery; see Ezek. 40:47; 45:2; 48:20; for the altar, Ex. 27:1; 30:1–2; 37:25; 38:1; Ezek. 43:16; for the ephod, Ex. 28:16; 39:9. Farrer suggests that if the city were 12,000 stadia along each of the 12 boundary lines of the cube, this would yield 144,000 (Mounce, Revelation, 380); but probably only the most geometrically proficient would think to count these edges.

45. Later rabbis also expected Jerusalem and the Holy Land to expand and grow in height to heaven (Sifre Deut. 1.11.1; b. B.B. 75b; Pes. Rab Kah. 20:7; Deut. Rab. 4:11; Song Rab. 7:5, §3. citing Isa. 54:2). A rhetorician could hyperbolically depict Rome as able to fit all people (Lucan, C.W. 1.511–13), but John’s apocalyptic images are more dramatic. Some opined that the present world could not simultaneously contain all people who have lived (4 Ezra 5:44), so a city even limited to the righteous remnant must be supernaturally large (cf. the hyperbolic language in Sib. Or. 5.249–52). In some traditions the righteous would live in the heights (2 Bar. 51:10), as would the new Jerusalem (b. B.B. 75b).

46. Thickness is more likely in view (Ezek. 41:9, 12; see Aune, Revelation, 3:1162), though the matter remains debated.

47. Cf. Ladd, The Last Things, 112–13; Rissi, Future of the World, 67.

48. Aune, Revelation, 3:1154.

49. Angels repeatedly appear as “people” in 2 Enoch, e.g., 20:1–2. In some later Jewish traditions, Moses in heavenly visions could view angels as people (Pes. Rab. 20:4); or angels could assume either angelic or human form (Gen. Rab. 50:2). Revelation is ambiguous only occasionally (e.g., Rev. 22:8–9).

50. Bauckham, Climax of Prophecy, 397–98, also noting that the Greek term for “beast” in Hebrew letters is 666, whereas “angel” in Hebrew letters is 144 (cf. Gideon Bohak, “Greek-Hebrew Gematrias in 3 Baruch and in Revelation,” JSP 7 [1990]:119–21).

51. The gold’s purity in 21:18, 21, although appropriate to a refined metal, appears also in the Greek of 15:6; 19:8, 14; it may contrast with what the Greek calls the impurity of what relates to Babylon in 16:13; 17:4; 18:2. Gold could be compared with glass, but not on grounds of appearance (ARN, 24A).

52. See in some detail Pes. Rab Kah. 18:4–6, where such gates of literal pearl and precious stone are being fashioned beneath the sea in the present. See further, with much attention to prerabbinic texts, William W. Reader, “The Twelve Jewels of Revelation 21:19–20: Tradition History and Modern Interpretations,” JBL 100 (Sept. 1981): 433–57; Fekkes, Isaiah, 239. Cf. the “costly stones” (NIV: “quality stone”) for the temple foundation in 1 Kings 5:17, though it is difficult for interpreters to read these as gems. In view of the “brilliance” of 21:11, it may be relevant that some traditions so spoke of specially luminous stones (Ps. Philo 26:9–14; b. Sanh. 108b; Gen. Rab. 31:11; Pes. Rab. 32:3/4).

53. See J. A. Draper, “The Twelve Apostles As Foundation Stones of the Heavenly Jerusalem and the Foundation of the Qumran Community,” Neot 22 (1988): 41–63.

54. Cf. comments in Kraybill, Imperial Cult and Commerce, 209; Reader, “Jewels,” 456; parallels in Ps-Philo show that the literary contrast is not merely accidental. Some later traditions opined that the city’s precious stones would supply everyone’s economic needs and hence settle all economic disputes (Pes. Rab Kah. 18:6; Pes. Rab. 32:3/4). Beale, Revelation, 1080–88, provides a useful summary of the various backgrounds. Even on the high priest’s breastplate, the precious stones stood for the glory of God’s people (Wisd. Sol. 18:24). The sequence in which John lists the stone also appears a deliberate echo of Exodus (for explanation, see Caird, Commentary on Revelation, 275–77, although he is probably wrong about the antizodiacal connection; see T. Francis Glasson, “The Order of Jewels in Revelation xxi.19–20: A Theory Eliminated,” JTS [1975]: 95–100).

55. Fekkes, Isaiah, 243, explains how pearls represented a natural interpretation of Isa. 54 (they were the kind of precious stone one could drill through).

56. On Herodian Jerusalem’s streets, see Aune, Revelation, 2:618; compare Rome’s Sacra Via (620).

57. Roman cities generally had two major streets around which other streets were organized: The cardo ran north and south and near the center of the city intersected the decumanus, which ran east and west (J. Julius Scott, Customs and Controversies [Grand Rapids: Baker, 1995], 240). Beasley-Murray, Revelation, 326, suggests the street recalls the heavenly thoroughfare ancients found in the Milky Way.

58. See Jub. 1:27–29; 1 Enoch 90:28–29; Sib. Or. 3.702–6; m. Ab. 5:20; Taan. 4:8; fully Talbert, Apocalypse, 102. E. P. Sanders, Jesus and Judaism (Philadelphia: Fortress, 1985), 86, suggests a polemic here against traditional Jewish expectations. Some later strands of expectation did dismiss sacrifices (Pes. Rab Kah. 9:12).

59. Arrian, Indica 7.2; Kraybill, Imperial Cult and Commerce, 213. A few people opposed temples (Sib. Or. 4.27–28), but they were a minority.

60. Other early Jewish writers recognized that God would shine on his people (1 Enoch 1:8; 50:1; 58:2–6; 96:3; 1QH 18.28–29; 4 Ezra 7:39–44; cf. 1QM 1.8; 2 Enoch 65:10; Sib. Or. 2.329; 4.190–92; Pes. Rab Kah. 21:5); see further comment on 22:5.

61. Sanders, Jesus and Judaism, 214, cites also Mic. 4:13; Zeph. 2:9. See also Tobit 13:11; 1QM 12.14; Sib. Or. 3.772–74. Like the Bible, Jewish traditions were diverse: The nations would not profit from Israel (Sifre Deut. 315.1.1), and only the invited could go to Jerusalem (b. B.B. 75b), or God would even trick the nations into coming to Jerusalem, whence he would banish them to Gehenna (Pes. Rab Kah. 2:2).

62. Cf. perhaps Ezek. 39:21; T. Jud. 25:5; Sib. Or. 3.716–19. Some traditions allowed the continuance of the nations without their conversion (Mic. 4:5), or that only some will be converted (Zech. 14:16–19).

63. See Jub. 8:12, 19; Sib. Or. 5.249–50; tos. Kip. 2:14; b. Yoma 54b; cf. Ezek. 5:5; 38:12. This responded to the Greek and Roman claim that Delphi was the center (e.g., Euripides, Medea 667–68; Orestes 591; Varro, 7.2.17; Livy, 38.48.2; Ovid, Metam. 10.168; 15.630–31; Lucan, C.W. 5.71).

64. Hemer, Letters to the Seven Churches, 48–51; for this function of sanctuaries, see Hesiod, Works and Days 327; Euripides, Madness of Heracles 48; Diodorus Siculus, 11.89.6–8; Livy, 35.51.1–2; Appian, R.H. 12.1.7.

65. A pomerium, i.e., a boundary excluding activities illegal within a city, extended for a mile from every side of Roman towns and cities (Kraybill, Imperial Cult and Commerce, 212); but 21:17 speaks of the wall itself.

66. Diaspora Jews sometimes exaggerated the temple water system (Ep. Arist. 88–91). “Crystal” in the LXX can relate to ice (Job 6:16; 38:29; cf. Ps. 147:17; 148:8), but the source here is Isa. 54:12; Ezek. 1:22.

67. See 4 Ezra 8:52–54; 9:5–6; Ep. Barn. 6.13; perhaps Acts 3:21. See further D. S. Russell, The Method and Message of Jewish Apocalyptic (Philadelphia: Westminster, 1964), 280ff.; French L. Arrington, Paul’s Aeon Theology in 1 Corinthians (Washington, D.C.: Univ. Press of America, 1978), 77–81. Ancients would have understood the image of one river for the world: Greeks thought the river Oceanus surrounded the world, and some thought that the Nile coalesced with Oceanus (Diodorus Siculus, 1.12.6) or the Euphrates (Pausanias, 2.5.3) as the same river. Some Jews thus held the four rivers of Gen. 2 to the Ganges, Euphrates, Tigris, and Nile as four parts of Oceanus (Josephus, Ant. 1.38–39).

68. See 4 Ezra 7:123–24; 8:52; 2 Bar. 51:11; T. Levi 18:10; Sifra Behuq. pq. 3.263.1.5; on paradise after death see 1 Enoch 60:8; 61:12; T. Abr. 20 A; 10 B. This was often compared with (Isa. 51:3; Ezek. 36:33–35) or called (m. Ab. 5:20; 1QH 6.16–17) Eden. Later rabbis regularly contrasted the eschatological Eden with Gehenna (ARN, 25A; b. Ber. 28b; Erub. 19a; Yoma 87a; Ex. Rab. 7:4; Lev. Rab. 32:1; Koh. Rab. 7:14, §3) and spoke of it as the destination of the righteous (b. Temurah 16a; Num. Rab. 13:2).

69. See further 2 Bar. 29:5–7; Sib. Or. 3.744–49; b. Ket. 112b; cf. 1 Enoch 10:18–19; among Romans, Virgil, Ecl. 4.18–25, 37–40.

70. E.g., Sifra Behuq. pq. 1.261.1.6.

71. 1 Enoch 31:1–3; 32:3–6; 3 Enoch 42:2; Lev. Rab. 22:10. Cf. also the trees of judgment in 1 Enoch 29:2. In Greek paradeisos (“paradise,” borrowed from Persian) usually signified a garden or park (e.g., Dio Chrysostom, 79th Disc. 6; Longus, 4.1–2; Philostratus, V.A. 1.37; Philo, Creation 153).

72. Pagans also recognized as ideal a place where trees bore fruit all year round (Homer, Od. 7.114–19). They envisioned a primeval golden era in which Earth provided fruits without human labor (Ovid, Metam. 1.101–6; Babrius prologue 12) every month of the year (Ovid, Metam. 1.106). Early Judaism assigned each month to an angel (1 Enoch 82:11–20).

73. John’s reapplication of Ezekiel’s image may presuppose a collective use of “tree” for “trees,” as does occur in Greek and Hebrew (Aune, Revelation, 3:1177, cites various texts, including Gen. 1:11–12; 3:8), but it allows him to point to the “tree of life” tradition, which is singular.

74. Other visions of the future era included health (e.g., Isa. 65:20; Jub. 23:29–30; 1QS 4.6; 2 Bar. 29:7; Gen. Rab. 20:5; Pes. Rab. 29/30B:3).

75. Kraybill, Imperial Cult and Commerce, 212.

76. See also Wesley, Commentary on the Bible, 612.

77. CIJ 1:452, §634; 1:509, §696; 1 En. 90:35; ARN, 1 A; Sifra Behuq. pq. 3.263.1.5; Sifra VDDen. pq. 2.2.3.2; Sifre Deut. 310.6.1; 357.19.1. Cf. further A. Marmorstein, The Old Rabbinic Doctrine of God: Essays in Anthropomorphism (New York: KTAV, 1937), 95–99; Kenneth E. Kirk, The Vision of God: The Christian Doctrine of the Summum Bonum (New York: Longmans, Green & Co., 1934), 14–15. Jewish people also spoke of a primeval light (2 Enoch 24:4; 3 Enoch 5:3; b. Hag. 12a), which might be restored in the end time.

78. Cf. Aune, Revelation, 3:1181, who regards the Old Testament usage as a solar metaphor.

79. Cf. Qumran’s commentary on Isa. 54:11–12; Ps-Philo, 26:13; 4 Ezra 7:97; 2 En. 65:11 A; Sifre Deut. 47.2.1–2; Pes. Rab. Kah. 27:2; Matt. 13:43.

80. The earth may be purged or recreated, but it remains “the earth, not a transcendent realm beyond it” (Norman Perrin, The Kingdom of God in the Teaching of Jesus [Philadelphia: Westminster, 1963], 69). On “spiritual” in 1 Cor. 15, see George Eldon Ladd, A Theology of the New Testament (Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 1974), 370; idem, The Last Things, 82–83; Gordon D. Fee, God’s Empowering Presence: The Holy Spirit in the Letters of Paul (Peabody, Mass.: Hendrickson, 1994), 28–31; idem, The First Epistle to the Corinthians, NICNT (Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 1987), 786.

81. Timothy K. Beougher, “Did You Know?” Christian History 45 (1995): 2–3 (p. 2).

82. Raymond Bakke, The Urban Christian (Downers Grove, Ill.: InterVarsity, 1987), 78. For a more recent perspective on biblical groundwork for urban ministry, see idem, A Theology As Big as the City (Downers Grove, Ill.: InterVarsity, 1997). Both works are very insightful.

83. See Longus, 2.22; M. I. Finley, The Ancient Economy, Sather Classical Lectures 43 (Berkeley: Univ. of California Press, 1973), 123–49; Ramsay MacMullen, Roman Social Relations: 50 B.C. to A.D. 284 (New Haven, Conn.: Yale Univ. Press, 1974), 15, 30, 32.

84. The conjunction of paradise and tree of life imagery with a city, both in Rev. 21:9–22:5 and in 4 Ezra 8:52 (though distinct in Jub. 4:26), shows that these hopes had become conflated by this period.

85. The biblical prophets themselves recognized that they meant David’s house when they spoke of David’s eschatological rule (Ps. 89:3–4; 132:10–11, 17; Isa. 16:5; 55:3; Jer. 33:17, 21–26; Amos 9:11; Zech. 12:7–12; 13:1), a special end-time ruler (Isa. 9:6–7; Jer. 23:5; 33:15).

86. Some later Jewish traditions restrict the rest of the wise in the world to come because they would study continually (b. Ber. 64a), but this does not fit the context in Revelation (cf. Eccl. 12:12 for a different view).

87. Jewish end-time literature lacked clear consensus among its end-time images concerning Gentiles; see Terence L. Donaldson, “Proselytes or ‘Righteous Gentiles’? The Status of Gentiles in Eschatological Pilgrimage Patterns of Thought,” Journal for the Study of the Pseudepigrapha 7 (1990): 3–27.

88. Rissi, Future of the World, 77–78. One could find this potential in Revelation, yet regard its realization as uncertain (cf. Walter E. Pilgrim, “Universalism in the Apocalypse,” Word & World 9 [Summer 1989]: 235–43).

89. Mounce, Revelation, 384–85, who follows Beckwith and Glasson in the view that Revelation takes over images from the prophets, but that its significance is different from the concrete images in the prophets.

90. E.g., b. Tamid 32b; Gen. Rab. 33:6; Song Rab. 1:15, §4; 4:1, §2. Among traditions about Eden, it was created before the rest of the world (b. Ned. 39b, bar.; Pes. 54a, bar.) or on the third day of creation (Gen. Rab. 15:3).

91. Philo, Creation 153–54; Conf. 60–61. For Philo the river represented the divine Word (Som. 2.242–43) or flowed as virtue from Eden, which represented the Word (L.A. 1.65).

92. The tree may represent Ezekiel’s “trees,” but as suggested above, John probably deliberately employs the singular to make a point. Ancients could claim that the tree of life was a five-hundred-years’ journey in size (Gen. Rab. 15:6), or could envision one “river” watering many fruit trees (Jos. & Asen. 2:11–12/19–20).

93. Cf. John A. T. Robinson, Twelve New Testament Studies, SBT 34 (London: SCM, 1962), 174.

94. Cf. “River,” 729–31 in Dictionary of Biblical Imagery, ed. Leland Ryken et al. (Downers Grove, Ill.: InterVarsity, 1998), 730.

95. Naturally writers, whether urban or rural, emphasized the images dearest to their hopes. Thus some later rabbis portrayed paradise as a wonderful place to study the Bible (e.g., b. Ber. 18b; 64a; Song Rab. 6:2, §6)!

96. John S. Mbiti, African Religions and Philosophies (Garden City, N.Y.: Doubleday, 1970), 127.

97. See the comments of Strong, Systematic Theology, 776.

98. On this intimacy with God, from various perspectives, see J. I. Packer, Knowing God (Downers Grove, Ill.: InterVarsity, 1973); Craig S. Keener, 3 Crucial Questions About the Holy Spirit (Grand Rapids: Baker, 1996), 131–80; Jack Deere, Surprised by the Voice of God (Grand Rapids: Zondervan, 1996).

99. For comments on materialism, see esp. Contemporary Significance on 18:11–19.

100. On abstinence, see Michele Ingrassia, “Virgin Cool,” NW (Oct. 17, 1994), 58–69; Robert C. Noble, “ ‘There Is No Safe Sex,’ ” NW (Apr. 1, 1991), 8; Katherine Bond, “Abstinence Education: How Parents Are Making It Happen,” Focus on the Family (Sept. 1998), 12–13; see other sources in Contemporary Significance of 2:14.

101. I attempted to communicate this in a culturally relevant way in the illustration in Craig Keener and Glenn Usry, Defending Black Faith (Downers Grove, Ill.: InterVarsity, 1997), 129–31.

102. Michaels, Revelation, 254.

103. Pace Rissi, Future of the World, 80.

1. E.g., 1QH 10.8; Jub. 10:3; 1 Enoch 37:4; 38:2, 6; 39:2, 8–9, 12; 40:1–2, 4; CIJ, 1:524, §725; PGM, 62.25–26; 1 Clem. 59.3; b. Ber. 60b; other sources in G. Adolf Deissmann, Light From the Ancient East (Grand Rapids: Baker, 1978), 424; John Bowman, tr., Samaritan Documents Relating to Their History, Religion and Life, POTTS 2 (Pittsburgh: Pickwick, 1977), 328.

2. Beale, Revelation, 1124, makes a good argument for an echo here of Dan. 2:45.

3. Aune, The New Testament in Its Literary Environment, 241, argues that 22:10–21 may function as a closing epistolary postscript, hence summarizing the themes of the book.

4. Pseudo-Enoch claimed his words would be understood only in the end time (1 En. 100:6). Something “sealed” was “shut up,” inaccessible (Isa. 29:11; b. Sanh. 103b).

5. See Beale, Revelation, 1131–33.

6. See also Eccl. 11:9; Matt. 23:32; Sib. Or. 3.57–59. The call to repentance is more explicit in Did. 10.6. The term for “filthy” appears in the LXX at Zech. 3:3–4.

7. The punishment for rejecting a good teaching is to remain as one is (Epictetus, Disc. 1.12.21–22; PGM, 4.749–50).

8. See Ps. 62:12; Prov. 24:12; Jer. 17:10; Sir. 16:12, 14; 4 Ezra 7:35; Matt. 16:27; Rom. 2:6; 2 Cor. 11:15; Rev. 22:12; Pes. Rab. 8:2. On rewards, see comment on 11:18.

9. E.g., Sib. Or. 4.183–84; 1 Enoch 9:4; 60:2; 62:2. In more general senses it could apply to Abel (T. Abr. 12–13A; 11B), Enoch (3 Enoch 16:1), or the son of man (1 Enoch 69:27), but Jesus appears in the supreme sense (cf. Matt. 7:23; 25:31–33).

10. Revelation’s “what he has done” (22:12) also shares a term with Isa. 40:10; 62:11 LXX, but probably only by way of connecting it with Ps. 62:12, which is what Revelation cites for that line. Jewish interpreters frequently linked texts on the basis of common key words.

11. We regard the summons to wash their robes as the likelier reading, based on more of the textual evidence, but some prefer “those who do his commandments,” based on patristic evidence and the rest of Revelation (see Stephen Goranson, “The Text of Revelation 22:14,” NTS 43 [1997]: 154–57).

12. Dogs were often viewed as sexually immoral (Aelian, Animals 7.19); the title became a familiar insult in ancient pagan tradition (Homer, Il. 8.527; 9.373; 11.362; 20.449; 22.345; Od. 17.248; 22.35; cf. Mark 7:27). Marc Philonenko thinks Revelation spiritualizes the sort of ban against dogs in the Jerusalem temple found in 4QMMT (“ ‘Dehors les Chiens’ [Apocalypse 22.15 et 4QMMT B 58–62],” NTS 43 [1997]: 445–50); but would unclean animals have been allowed in the literal temple in any case?

13. Because “you” (plural; cf. NIV note) here appears to differ from the (seven) churches, Aune thinks it probably applies to the prophets of 22:9 (“The Prophetic Circle of John of Patmos and the Exegesis of Revelation 22.16,” JSNT 37 [1989]: 103–16; idem, Revelation, 3:1225–26).

14. Cf. a similar argument implied by the structure of Matthew’s genealogy (Craig S. Keener, Matthew [Downers Grove, Ill.: InterVarsity, 1997], 53). For the patriarchs as roots, cf. Pes. Rab Kah. 15:5; Rom. 11:16.

15. On the morning star, see comment on 2:28, though many commentators distinguish that star (which need not be Christ himself) from this one. For Balaam’s star as messianic, see also 1QM 11.6–7; besides other sources in commentaries, see Richard N. Longenecker, The Christology of Early Jewish Christianity (Grand Rapids: Baker, 1981), 112, n. 221.

16. On the Spirit’s association with prophecy among John’s contemporaries, see Craig S. Keener, The Spirit in the Gospels and Acts (Peabody, Mass.: Hendrickson, 1997), 10–12. For the Spirit’s responding, see Sifre Deut. 355.17.1–6; 356.4.1.

17. See Bruce, “The Spirit in the Apocalypse,” 342–43, idem, Time Is Fulfilled, 112, and Caird, Commentary on Revelation, 287, who favor the bride seconding the Spirit in invoking Jesus’ return, the Marana tha prayer; I tentatively favor the Spirit speaking this through the bride.

18. On the curse formula, see Aune, Prophecy in Early Christianity, 115–16, 288. That the book is unsealed (albeit figuratively; 22:10) renders it more susceptible to changes.

19. Josephus noted that no one dares add to or change the Scriptures (Josephus, Apion 1.42; cf. Prov. 30:6). Later rabbis also agreed that no one could ever alter a single letter of Torah (b. Sanh. 107ab; p. Sanh. 2:6, §2; Gen. Rab. 47:1; cf. Matt. 5:18); the Levites were to ensure this (Pes. Rab Kah. Sup. 1:8). Later Gnostics actually freely adapted the New Testament text, the sort of matter Revelation warns against (Beasley-Murray, Revelation, 346).

20. For further comments, see Oscar Cullmann, Early Christian Worship (Philadelphia: Westminster, 1953), 13–14; idem, The Christology of the New Testament (Philadelphia: Westminster, 1959), 210; Otto Betz, What Do We Know About Jesus? (Philadelphia: Westminster, 1968), 108; Gordon D. Fee, The First Epistle to the Corinthians (Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 1987), 838–39.

21. Revelation: Grand Climax, 316.

22. Ibid., 317–18.

23. The apparent change of speakers may point to an “angel” who prophesies for God, perhaps as in some cases of the Old Testament “angel of the LORD”; on this activity of the Lord’s angel, see John H. Walton and Victor H. Matthews, The IVP Bible Background Commentary: Genesis-Deuteronomy (Downers Grove, Ill.: InterVarsity, 1997), 43.

24. Robert L. Thomas, “The Spiritual Gift of Prophecy in Rev 22:18,” JETS 32 (June 1989): 201–16, associates (in our view, wrongly) this verse with the cessation of prophecy.

25. On the continuance of gifts, see Gordon D. Fee, God’s Empowering Presence: The Holy Spirit in the Letters of Paul (Peabody, Mass.: Hendrickson, 1994), 893–94; idem, Gospel and Spirit: Issues in New Testament Hermeneutics (Peabody, Mass.: Hendrickson, 1991), 75–77; Jack Deere, Surprised by the Power of the Spirit (Grand Rapids: Zondervan, 1993), 99–115, 229–66; Craig Keener, 3 Crucial Questions About the Holy Spirit (Grand Rapids: Baker, 1996), 79–130. For four views, see Wayne A. Grudem, ed., Are Miraculous Gifts for Today? (Grand Rapids: Zondervan, 1996); see also excellent discussion of the gifts by D. A. Carson, Showing the Spirit (Grand Rapids: Baker, 1987), and Max Turner, The Holy Spirit and Spiritual Gifts (Peabody, Mass.: Hendrickson, 1998).

26. See esp. the arguments of Deere, Surprised by the Voice of God, passim. Scripture does not restrict the word we translate “revelation” (apocalypsis) to Scripture (1 Cor. 14:6, 26, 30; Gal. 2:2), so it dishonors and contradicts Scripture to insist that those who claim there is revelation beyond what is in Scripture are “liberal.”

27. See Dietrich Bonhoeffer’s challenge to those who try to evade the plain sense of Jesus’ teachings on sacrifice (The Cost of Discipleship, rev. ed. [New York: Macmillan, 1963], 88–91).