Last time we had a first look at intertextuality in Revelation by considering the use of Daniel 2 at the beginning of the book. Building on the lesson of Daniel 2, Paul says “that the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of glory, may give unto you the spirit of wisdom and revelation (apokalupsis) in the knowledge of him” (Eph 1:17). We need the “spirit of wisdom” in order to have an understanding of the purpose of God (v. 18). We gain this from Bible reading and understanding. The word ‘secrets’ in Dan 2:28-29, 47 is the equivalent of the word ‘mystery’ (a secret) in the New Testament. So, in vv. 8 & 9 of Ephesians 1 Paul says “wherein he hath abounded toward us in all wisdom and prudence; Having made known unto us the mystery of his will, according to his good pleasure which he hath purposed in himself”. Later on in the epistle this “mystery” is expanded upon:
How that by revelation (apokalupsis) he made known unto me the mystery; (as I wrote afore in few words, Whereby, when ye read, ye may understand my knowledge in the mystery of Christ) Which in other ages was not made known unto the sons of men, as it is now revealed unto his holy apostles and prophets by the Spirit. (Eph 3:3-5)
Again, the secret is revealed “by the Spirit” and the same was true for Daniel – “this secret is not revealed to me for any wisdom that I have more than any living” (Dan 2:30) – and for us too:
Howbeit we speak wisdom among them that are perfect: yet not the wisdom of this world, nor of the princes of this world, that come to nought: But we speak the wisdom of God in a mystery, even the hidden wisdom, which God ordained before the world unto our glory: Which none of the princes of this world knew: for had they known it, they would not have crucified the Lord of glory. But as it is written, Eye hath not seen, nor ear heard, neither have entered into the heart of man, the things which God hath prepared for them that love him. But God hath revealed (apokalupto) them unto us by his Spirit: for the Spirit searcheth all things, yea, the deep things of God. For what man knoweth the things of a man, save the spirit of man which is in him? even so the things of God knoweth no man, but the Spirit of God. Now we have received, not the spirit of the world, but the spirit which is of God; that we might know the things that are freely given to us of God. Which things also we speak, not in the words which man’s wisdom teacheth, but which the Holy Ghost teacheth; comparing spiritual things with spiritual. But the natural man receiveth not the things of the Spirit of God: for they are foolishness unto him: neither can he know them, because they are spiritually discerned. (1 Cor 2:10-14)
The “hidden wisdom” is simply the instruction of God contained in the Old Testament (Rom 16:25-26). We know this from v. 8 which says that if those who crucified Christ had known this wisdom they would not have killed him. In Acts 4 we read similar words:
Who by the mouth of thy servant David hast said, Why did the heathen rage, and the people imagine vain things? The kings of the earth stood up, and the rulers were gathered together against the Lord, and against his Christ. For of a truth against thy holy child Jesus, whom thou hast anointed, both Herod, and Pontius Pilate, with the Gentiles, and the people of Israel, were gathered together, For to do whatsoever thy hand and thy counsel determined before to be done. (Acts 4:25-28)
This passage says that the actions of the “princes of this world” were predestined in the words of Psalm 2. All they had to do was read and understand. It is the same for us. The passage in Corinthians tells us that the hidden wisdom of God will only be revealed by the spirit of God. We can only understand by “comparing spiritual things with spiritual”, which means we can only interpret the book of Revelation using the spirit-word of God.
Only those who have this spiritual discernment can understand the revelation of Jesus Christ. Jesus himself said the same thing:
At that time Jesus answered and said, I thank thee, O Father, Lord of heaven and earth, because thou hast hid these things from the wise and prudent, and hast revealed (apokalupto) them unto babes. Even so, Father: for so it seemed good in thy sight. All things are delivered unto me of my Father: and no man knoweth the Son, but the Father; neither knoweth any man the Father, save the Son, and he to whomsoever the Son will reveal (apokalupto) him. (Matt 11:25-27)
We need to be spiritual “babes”, humble enough to let Scripture interpret itself and reveal to us the hidden wisdom of God. For instance, the fact that the Law would be replaced by faith (Gal 3:23) was already in the Old Testament and all a Jew had to do was read. We are really without excuse (Rom 1:16-23) and simply need to humble ourselves to read, hear and keep the word of God.
There is another reason why Rev 1:1 quotes from Daniel 2. The context is, of course, the dream of Nebuchadnezzar and the image he saw detailing world history in advance. The book of Revelation is in many ways a filling out of the details of the image as they pertain to the time since John’s day (the legs of the image, the Roman Empire) until the time when the stone strikes it in the feet. The image is about “what shall be in the latter days” (Dan 2:28), but this does not mean it is all about events around the time of the coming of the Lord. It culminates with that, but it also includes those events throughout the centuries leading up to the stone striking the image. The image is essentially continuous historic rather than Preterist or Futurist. The same is surely true for the Apocalypse. What use would the prophecy be to any brother or sister down the centuries if it was either Preterist (events in the first century) or Futurist (events still to come)? No use at all; and that is what makes Revelation such a miraculous book, applicable to every brother and sister from the days of John until our day and beyond.
The things in Revelation have been “signified”, says Rev 1:1. This word is usually translated as “sign” in the New Testament. The Revelation was sent by an angel to John, and this is also significant since the apostle was able to “bare record of the word of God, and of the testimony of Jesus Christ”. Jesus had told all of his disciples that this was their commission in a context that helps us to understand a little more about the book of Revelation:
But when the Comforter is come, whom I will send unto you from the Father, even the Spirit of truth, which proceedeth from the Father, he shall testify of me: And ye also shall bear witness, because ye have been with me from the beginning. (John 15:26, 27)
The “Comforter” was an angel sent to the disciples in the first century.[1] Why do I say it was an angel? There are a few hints that help determine that it was. Firstly, at the beginning of this section in John’s gospel record, Jesus says “I go to prepare a place for you” (John 14:2), an echo of Exod 23:20 where the angel that guided Israel through the wilderness was bringing them “into the place which I have prepared”. It is said there of the angel “obey his voice, and do all that I speak” (v. 22) which means that it was the angel’s voice but God’s words. Jesus says the same in John 14:10 – “the words that I speak unto you I speak not of myself: but the Father” and in John 16:13 of the Comforter – “he shall not speak of himself; but whatsoever he shall hear, that shall he speak”. This same Comforter would “reprove the world of sin” (John 16:8), just as the angel (Exod 23:21). The Comforter is also called the “Holy Spirit” (John 14:26) and my conclusion is that here we have the power of God manifest in an angel guiding the apostles into all truth in the first century.
In the midst of this section on the Comforter we have the following:
Howbeit when he, the Spirit of truth, is come, he will guide you into all truth: for he shall not speak of himself; but whatsoever he shall hear, that shall he speak: and he will shew you things to come. He shall glorify me: for he shall receive of mine, and shall shew it unto you. All things that the Father hath are mine: therefore said I, that he shall take of mine, and shall shew it unto you. (John 16:1-15)
It is probable that this passage concerns the giving of the book of Revelation. The following table summarizes the connections:
| John 16:13-16 | Revelation 1:1 |
|---|---|
| V13 – “he will show you things to come” | “to show unto his servants things to come” |
| V15 – “all things that (1) the Father hath are (2) mine” | “The Revelation of (2) Jesus Christ, which (1) God gave unto him” |
| V13-14 – “(3) he (the Spirit of Truth) shall not speak of himself; but whatsoever he shall hear, that shall he speak… he shall glorify me: for he shall receive of mine” | “he sent and signified it by his (3) angel” |
| V14 – “and he shall show it unto (4) you” | “unto his servant (4) John” |
Using these connections we are able to say that it is through the “spirit of truth” that things are “signified”. Passages like the following help confirm this:
And fear came upon every soul: and many wonders and signs were done by the apostles. (Acts 2:43)
He brought them out, after that he had shewed wonders and signs in the land of Egypt, and in the Red sea, and in the wilderness forty years. (Acts 7:36)
And there stood up one of them named Agabus, and signified by the spirit that there should be great dearth throughout all the world: which came to pass in the days of Claudius Caesar. (Acts 11:28)
See also Acts 2:22; 4:30; 5:12; 8:13; 14:3; Rom 15:19; 2 Cor 12:12 (and vv. 1, 7 – “revelations”); Heb 2:4 where the word ‘signified’ as in Rev 1:1 is used in the context of the Holy Spirit gifts of the first century. The “wonders and signs” (Acts 7:36) were done through angels and therefore I conclude that the pouring out of the Holy Spirit in the first century included more intense angelic involvement in the ministrations of the disciples. This is why the angel delivered the revelation to John, the “spirit of truth” showing him the signs.
Rebuttal – P. Wyns
All Bible students of prophecy agree that Scripture should be interpreted using Scripture – a principle using its intertextuality. This is not simply finding word connections between different (usually OT and NT) passages but attempting to understand the context of each passage. The NT writers do not cite or allude to a passage because the wording helped to establish their argument – they do it because the original context of the passage is relevant. So, an Apostle might quote a passage from the Servant Prophecies in Isaiah because the original context of the Suffering Servant is relevant. This means that the Apostles understood the original prophecy – they knew the identity of the Servant and they understood the parallels between the life of the Suffering Servant and Christ. An important interpretive principle is established here, namely, that prophetic scripture has an original context that is determinative for understanding future applications. Therefore the Suffering Servant prophecies have a short time focus (Hezekiah) and a longer-term messianic fulfilment (Christ). If we dismiss the original context as unimportant then we are in danger of misapplying the interpretation. Moreover, the test of a true prophet is the correct fulfilment of his prophecy – this was expected by the generation that heard the prophecy. So, for example, the generation that heard Isaiah (or Christ) might at least expect a partial fulfilment of their words in order to establish whether or not they were dealing with a false prophet.
The image in Daniel 2 is, indeed, about “what shall be in the latter days” (Dan 2:28) but this expression is somewhat flexible. What do we understand as the ‘latter days’ (1,000 years hence, 2,000 years hence, etc.)? More to the point, what did Daniel understand as the ‘latter days’? Daniel was told that the desolations would last 490 years (Dan 9:24-27), therefore, the original context would expect a fulfilment somewhere in the first century (the time of Christ). At the end of 490 years Daniel expected that atonement would be made for sin and that the image would be destroyed and the kingdom established. The Apostles also expected the establishment of the kingdom in the first century (Acts 1:11). As a side point, (sic) in a First Century fulfilment the body parts of the image fit the historical proportions of the metal-kingdoms but a continuous fulfilment has deformed legs, four times the length of the body!
Of course, the kingdom was not established in the First Century, even if the Christ-stone did deal a blow to the image but has not yet grown into a mountain. If Daniel/Revelation is not continuous how do we make sense of the prophecies? The only way is if there is an interruption or “gap” in the prophecies. Do we have a precedent for this gap? Yes, the generation that was promised entry into the kingdom perished in the wilderness (“ye shall know my breach of promise”, Num 14:34) and this forms the basis of the warning to the Hebrews to change their ways or face the same punishment (“Let us therefore be diligent to enter that rest, lest anyone fall according to the same example of disobedience”, Heb 4:11). So, the warning is that if they do not repent then there will be exclusion and delay in introducing the kingdom as in the wilderness and they will not enter into God’s rest…in other words a ‘breach’ in the promise and subsequently a gap in the prophecies as the promise is suspended (not cancelled).
The Apocalypse commences with the words; “The revelation of Jesus Christ, which God gave to him to show his servants what must soon take place” (Rev 1:1a, RSV). G.K. Beale has noted[2] that the formula translated in Rev 1:1 (and also 4:1 and 22:6) as “what must….take place” is found in only one other place in the Bible, namely in Daniel 2, where it occurs in verses 28, 29 and 45:
…what will be in the latter days… what is to be… what shall be hereafter Dan 2:28, 29, and 45 (RSV)
We can bring out the connection by translating the Greek relative pronoun and the verb ‘to be’ as,
…to show . . . …what must be soon (Rev 1:1)
Hence, Daniel is translated in the LXX as,
…he showed . . . what things must take place in the latter days (Dan 2:28, LXX)
The important matter to note is the change from the idea of the latter days to what is to be soon, which indicates that fulfilment has begun (that it is being fulfilled) or will begin in the near future. John varies the text accordingly.
Therefore, the Apocalypse anticipates (via Daniel) an imminent fulfilment in the first century. The conclusion is inescapable that the prophecy of Daniel/Revelation had at least a partial fulfilment in the first century in the same manner as the Olivet Prophecy.
This parallel reading of Revelation/Daniel understands both prophecies as discontinuous – for although both prophecies were flexible enough to allow a complete outworking in the first century, this was disallowed by the unfaithfulness of the Jewish nation and corruption of the church by Judaizers. The dispersion of the Jewish nation in AD 70 interrupted the prophetic programme which could only recommence with the return of the Jews from their prolonged exile.
[1] [ED. AP]: An alternative view is developed in the article “The Holy Spirit in Isaiah” in this issue.
[2] G. K. Beale, The Book of Revelation: A Commentary of the Greek Text (Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 1998), 153-4, 1130.
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