Revelation - Introduction 1

Well here we are about to embark on the last book of the Bible, and so this blog will have covered every book in the Bible. I do have plans for what comes next, but that will be revealed once we have completed Revelation.

Revelation is perhaps the most difficult book in the Bible to make sense of, largely because of its heavy use of imagery. It is also probably fair to say that it is the book in the Bible about which more nonsense is talked than any other book. So anything said about Revelation must be considered with caution, and that includes what I will write! I would strongly advise you to read the book itself, and indeed the whole Bible, to consider whether what I say makes any Biblical sense or not. In fact one of the keys to understanding Revelation is to realise how much it draws from the Old Testament, in particular Daniel, Isaiah, Ezekiel, Jeremiah, Zechariah and others.

For anything I say I am greatly indebted to Leon Morris's commentary on Revelation (IVP), also my NIV study bible.

The books is traditionally accredited to John the apostle, and that is the line I will take. The early church fathers said that he was the author, and the book itself says that John was the author. However, Dionysius in the fourth century claimed that the linguistic differences between Revelation and the John's gospel and letters were so great that it must have been written by someone else. He hypothesised that it had been written by "John the Presbyter", though quite who this mythical person is is not known. Most modern scholarship follows this line. However, it presents at least as many problems as it supposedly solves. Moreover, it seems to neglect the fact that Revelation is a radically different book to the gospels and letters. So we will stick with John the Apostle.

The most likely date is the late first century, near the end of the reign of Domitian. This was a time when emperor worship was established and there was significant persecution of Christians. Soon after Nero has also been suggested by some, but late first century seems more likely.