readers better access to Revelation’s message for applying it today.

Symbolism. As in the Old Testament prophets, much of John’s symbolic language

is meant as evocative imagery, to elicit particular responses, rather than as a
detailed literal picture of events. Readers steeped in the Old Testament and Jewish
apocalyptic literature would have understood this method of interpretation; sometimes
older symbols could be reapplied to new situations but were meant to evoke
the same sort of response. Sometimes John simply explains what the symbols mean
(e.g., 1:20); in other cases the first readers would have understood from other clues
in his book or because of cultural information or knowledge of how these symbols
were used in antiquity, which he and his readers both understood. John plainly
expected his readers to understand his points (1:3; 22:10).
Situation Part 1: The Imperial Cult. Only some cities faced persecution, but the
threat was wider. The line between human and divine had always been thin in Greek
religion, and consequently peoples of the Greek East had built temples to Roman
emperors from the first emperor on; the first shrines were in Ephesus and Smyrna.
In Rome itself the imperial cult was viewed as a symbol of loyalty to the Roman
state, and emperors were deified only after they died. But several emperors—for the
most part cursed instead of deified after death—claimed to be gods while still alive
(Gaius Caligula, Nero and Domitian). The emperor at the time Revelation was
written was most likely the widely hated Domitian, who demanded worship while
he was alive. If some considered Christians subversive, cities in the eastern part of
the empire could use worshiping the image of the emperor in his temple as a test of
loyalty to the state (cf. Rev 13:14; earlier, cf. Dan 3:5).
Domitian repressed the aristocracy, expelled astrologers from Rome (lest they
predict his demise) and persecuted philosophers and religions that he perceived as
hostile to himself. The sources also show that he repressed Judaism and Christianity,
although they were not singled out. Evidence on the imperial cult in Asia and outright
persecution of Christians in Asia on the provincial level in the early second
century (pre-Trajanic repression continuing in Trajan’s time) suggest that Domitian’s
own claims and behavior stimulated the environment in which provincial
persecution of Christians in Asia Minor occurred.
Situation Part 2: Inevitable Conflict. Jewish people were unofficially exempted
from emperor worship, but well-off Asian Jews, disliked by Domitian and embarrassed
by the relatively recent revolt of Palestinian Jewry (a.d. 66–70), wanted to
dissociate themselves from potentially subversive groups. Some Asian *synagogues
thus expelled Jewish Christians (2:9; 3:7-9), who could face Roman persecution if
their Jewishness were in question. In other cities, possibly the majority, no one
targeted Christians for persecution; the temptation there was simply to blend into
the larger cultural environment. John’s message would comfort some hearers and
confront others.

The Romans repressed any groups whose prophets denounced Rome, but John
stands well in the Old Testament tradition of uttering oracles against oppressive nations
and empires, especially those that oppressed God’s people. Some other Jewish
writers did pronounce judgment against Rome (often with cryptic names like Babylon,
the Kittim or even Edom), and many still wanted to revolt (this revolutionary fervor
materialized in Egypt and Cyrene shortly thereafter); but Revelation is among the
most explicit oracles of judgment against Rome’s rebellion against God. Although
Rome may have been the Babylon of John’s day, other oppressive empires have followed
it. Ancient authors often contrasted characters; Revelation contrasts Babylon,
portrayed as a prostitute, with the New Jerusalem, portrayed as a bride. John invites
hearers to live not for the empires of this age but for the promised city to come.
Message. Revelation provides an eternal perspective, by emphasizing such themes
as the antagonism of the world in rebellion against God toward a church obedient to
God’s will; the unity of the church’s worship with heaven’s worship; that victory depends
on Christ’s finished work, not on human circumstances; that Christians must
be ready to face death for Christ’s honor; that representatives of every people will ultimately
stand before his throne; that the imminent hope of his return is worth more
than all this world’s goods; and so forth. From the beginning, the Old Testament covenant
and promise had implied a hope for the future of God’s people. When Israel was
confronted with the question of individuals’ future, the Old Testament doctrines of
justice and hope led them to views like the *resurrection (Is 26:19; Dan 12:2). The future
hope is further developed and embroidered with the imagery of Revelation.
Commentaries. For background at an advanced level, see especially David E.
Aune, Revelation, 3 vols.,WBC 52 (Dallas: Word, 1997); Gregory K. Beale, The Book
of Revelation: A Commentary on the Greek Text (Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 1999);
Grant R. Osborne, Revelation, BECNT (Grand Rapids: Baker, 2002); Mitchell G.
Reddish, Revelation, SHBC (Macon, GA: Smyth & Helwys, 2001). For useful commentaries
on a more mediating level, see G. R. Beasley-Murray, The Book of Revelation,
2nd ed., NCB (1978; reprint, Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 1981); G. B. Caird, A Commentary
on the Revelation of Saint John the Divine, HNTC (San Francisco: Harper
& Row, 1966); Craig S. Keener, Revelation, NIVAC (Grand Rapids: Zondervan,
1999); on a more popular level, see, e.g., Bruce M. Metzger, Breaking the Code: Understanding
the Book of Revelation (Nashville: Abingdon, 1993) and especially
Charles H. Talbert, The Apocalypse: A Reading of the Revelation of John (Louisville,
KY: Westminster John Knox, 1994). Exceptionally useful specialized studies include
Richard Bauckham, The Climax of Prophecy: Studies on the Book of Revelation (New
York: T & T Clark, 1993); J. Nelson Kraybill, Imperial Cult and Commerce in John’s
Apocalypse, JSNTSup 132 (Sheffield, UK: Sheffield Academic Press, 1996); David A.
Thomas, Revelation 19 in Historical and Mythological Context, Studies in Biblical
Literature 118 (New York: Peter Lang, 2008).

1:1-3
Title and Apocalyptic Introduction
Titles of documents often consisted of a
statement like “the book of the words of soand-
so” (Tobit 1:1); John’s title resembles that
of some *Old Testament prophetic books (e.g.,
Is 1:1; Jer 1:1; Hos 1:1). Titles were normally affixed
to the outside of a scroll, although by the
mid-second century some people were using
the codex, or modern form of book, and titles
were put on the inside.
1:1. Most *apocalypses were attributed to
meritorious Old Testament characters of the
distant past; like Old Testament prophetic
books, Revelation is written by a contemporary
*apostle who does not need such a pen
name; he writes to real congregations that
know him (1:4, 11). (Other apocalypses did not
name specific recipients or use the epistolary
form.)
Some revelations in the Old Testament
(Dan 7:16; 10:5-21; cf. Ex 3:2; Judg 6:11-23) and
many revelations in apocalyptic literature (e.g.,
*1 Enoch and *4 Ezra) were mediated through
angels. Old Testament prophets were called
God’s “servants,” a title John aptly claims for
himself at the opening of his book.
1:2. “Witness” was especially a legal term,
although its sense had been widely extended
beyond that. Christians were being betrayed
to Roman law courts, but in the context of
Revelation, “witness” is the Christian proclamation
of knowledge about Jesus, in a sense
providing evidence in the light of the court of
God’s final judgment (cf. Is 43:8-12; 44:8-9).
1:3. Most people in antiquity could not
read, and there would not at any rate be
enough copies of the book (which would have
to be copied by hand) for everyone to have his
or her own. Thus the blessing is for the one
who reads aloud to the congregation (just as
someone would read in a *synagogue) and
those who hear (just as the rest of the congregation
listened to Scripture readings). The
“blessing” form was common in the Old Testament
and Jewish literature (see comment on
Mt 5:1-12), and here implies that the hearers
were expected to understand and obey what
they heard. (Revelation contains seven such
“blessings” and seven curses or “woes,” probably
all oracular, i.e., prophetic.) Apocalypses
commonly predicted the imminent end of the
age, or imminent events heralding that end
(especially in the roughly contemporary work
4 Ezra).
1:4-8
Epistolary Introduction
Works that were not strictly letters but were
being sent to readers could include letter introductions,
for example, the historical work
2 Maccabees (1:1–2:32, especially 1:1). One
could frame a paragraph or larger work with
literary brackets; in this case, “the one who is,
who was and who is to come, the Almighty”
frames 1:1-4.
1:4. “*Grace and peace” adapts a standard
ancient greeting and blessing from a deity
(here, from Father, Son and possibly *Spirit);
see comment on Romans 1:7. On the encyclical
nature of the letter (which could not be quickly
recopied by hand many times over, and thus
was read by the messenger to each *church in
sequence), see comment on Revelation 1:11.
The “one who is, was and is to come” is related
to an occasional Greek title for an eternal
deity, but especially reflects a Greek exposition
of the *Old Testament name “I am” (Ex 3:14;
the *lxx has “he who is”), in the same form in
which it was also expanded by a *targum.
Some argue that the “seven spirits” here might
refer to the seven holy archangels recognized
by Judaism around the throne (Rev 8:2; see
comment on 5:6). More often commentators
argue that they evoke the sevenfold messianic
Spirit of Isaiah 11:2. (That the sevenfold Spirit
imagery of Is 11:2 was current is suggested by
*1 Enoch 61:11; cf. *Psalms of Solomon 17:37.)
Given Revelation’s predilection for the number
“seven,” this number alone should not be decisive
for resolving the seven spirits’ identity.
1:5. A “faithful” witness (2:13; 3:14) was a
reliable one (Prov 14:5, 25; Is 8:2; Jer 42:5).
“Firstborn” and “ruler over the earth’s kings”
allude to Psalm 89:27. Under Old Testament
ritual law, the blood of the sacrifice of the Day
of Atonement freed Israel from its sins; the
Jewish people had also been freed from Egypt
by the blood of the Passover lamb.
1:6. After God redeemed Israel from Egypt
he called them “a kingdom of priests” (Ex 19:6),
thus indicating that all of them were holy to
him. A targum of this verse renders it “a