Introduction
The book of Revelation is well known for the breadth and depth of its intertextual connections with other canonical books, most commonly those from the Old Testament. It is argued here that the use of Old Testament passages and symbols in the letters to the ecclesias in Revelation 2-3, provide an important guide to their use elsewhere in the book. These early chapters demonstrate the application of Old Testament symbols in a Christian context, providing a hermeneutical key to the rest of the book.
The letters as a hermeneutical key
Use of Old Testament imagery, symbolism, and themes from the Old Testament is ubiquitous throughout Revelation. Do these references retain their original Old Testament context and subject when used in Revelation, or are they placed in a different context? Their use in the first three chapters of Revelation with explicit reference to ecclesias and the saints, demonstrates that these references comprise Old Testament passages which have been re-applied in a Christian context, with Christian referents. Should we consider subsequent uses in Revelation of Old Testament texts to follow this pattern of usage, or should we read such references in a manner differently to the way they are used in Revelation 1-3?
The usage of such references in the first three chapters gives us warrant for understanding them in the same way when we see them later in Revelation. In the letters a lampstand is a witness to God, not a physical piece of furniture in the earthly temple (Revelation 1:20, 2:5), manna is the reward of faithful Christians, not of natural Israel (Revelation 2:17), the temple of God is the body of Christians, not the earthly temple in Jerusalem (Revelation 3:12), and the holy city is the spiritual dwelling place of God, not the earthly city of Jerusalem (Revelation 3:12). We thus have a precedent which gives us warrant for interpreting these symbols in the same way later in Revelation. To assume instead that from chapter 4 onwards these symbols have completely different, non-Christian referents, is to advance an interpretation of the symbols which has no precedent in the book itself. The choice is between an interpretation which is attested by precedent in the first three chapters by Jesus himself, and an interpretation which is not attested by any precedent in the book at all.
For those symbols that appear later in Revelation, their explicit identification in these early chapters provides an intertextual key to understanding them in later chapters. Thus the teachings of a false prophet are used to represent teachings held by Christians leading other Christians astray (Revelation 2:14), a harlot and false prophet (Jezebel) is an apostate Christian and false teacher who corrupts the belief of other Christians (Revelation 2:20-22), and satan (also ‘the devil’) is the enemy of Christians who is currently persecuting them in their local area (Revelation 2:9-10, 13; 3:9). The following table summarizes such references.
| Symbols in the letters to the seven ecclesias | ||
|---|---|---|
| Symbol | Initial context in the letters | Later context |
| Lampstand | A Christian congregation: ‘the seven lampstands are the seven churches’ (1:20), ‘remove your lampstand’ (2:5) | ‘the two olive trees and the two lampstands that stand before the Lord of the earth’ (11:4) |
| Teaching of Balaam | A corruption of a Christian congregation: ‘some people there who follow the teaching of Balaam’ (2:14) | ‘the false prophet’ (16:13; 19:20; 20:10) |
| Prostitute | A spiritually corrupt Christian leading others astray: ‘that woman Jezebel, who calls herself a prophetess, and by her teaching deceives my servants’ (2:20), ‘her sexual immorality’ (2:21), ‘those who commit adultery with her’ (2:22) | ‘the great prostitute who sits on many waters’ (17:2), ‘a golden cup filled with detestable things and unclean things from her sexual immorality’ (17:4), ‘the great prostitute who corrupted the earth with her sexual immorality’ (19:2) |
| Book of life | The reward of the faithful in Christ: ‘I will never erase his name from the book of life’ (3:4) | ‘written in the book of life’ (13:8; 17:8; 2-:15), ‘another book was opened – the book of life’ (20:12), ‘written in the Lamb’s book of life’ 21:27) |
| Rod of iron | A powerful rulership, first identified as belonging to Christians: ‘he will rule them with an iron rod’ (2:27) | ‘rule over the nations with an iron rod’ (12:5) |
| Temple of God | The spiritual dwelling place of God, first identified as the body of Christians: ‘The one who conquers I will make a pillar in the temple of my God’ (3:12) | ‘his temple’ (7:15), ‘temple of God’ (11:1, 19), ‘’the temple’ (11:2; 14:15, 17; 15:5, 6, 8; 16:1, 17), ‘the Lord God – the All-Powerful – and the Lamb are its temple’ (21:22) |
A number of these symbols are drawn from a Jewish context in the Old Testament, but appear in Revelation in a Christian context and are applied explicitly to Christians. Our understanding of the meaning of these symbols in later chapters should be dependent on their explicit identification with Christian referents in the first three chapters; reading the lampstands in Revelation 11:4 with a Jewish referent therefore would violate the use of the symbol with a Christian referent, established in 1:20 and 2:5. The contrary would require use to interpret the same symbol in two different ways in the same book, without any precedent in Revelation itself as a warrant for doing so.
Notable in the letters to the seven ecclesias is the complete absence of any reference to Judea, Jerusalem, or Judaism, and the only use of the word ‘Jews’ is a reference to those who aren’t Jews at all, ‘those who call themselves Jews and really are not’ (Revelation 2:9). The pressing concerns Christ expresses in each letter make no mention at all of any places or events literally 1,000 kilometres away in Judea; local issues in Asia Minor are consistently his focus.
The letters as microcosm
An important feature of the letters is the way in which they introduce in microcosm, enemies of Christ who appear later in the book in macrocosm. With the exception of the beasts in Revelation 11, 13, and 17 (all of which are derived from Daniel 7), the major enemies in Revelation all appear first in the letters to the ecclesias. In each case the enemies are identified in the letters as a danger to a local ecclesia (twice identified as apostate Christians), and identified later Revelation as a danger to the whole earth. The following table demonstrates these parallels.
| Enemies in the letters: microcosm to macrocosm | ||
|---|---|---|
| Symbol | Initial context: local ecclesia | Later context: the earth, the world |
| Teaching of Balaam | A corruption of a Christian congregation: ‘some people there who follow the teaching of Balaam’ (2:14) | ‘unclean spirits… out of the mouth of the false prophet… to go out to the kings of the earth’ (16:L3, 14) |
| Satan | A corruption of a Christian congregation: ‘synagogue of Satan’ (2:9; 3:9), ‘your city where Satan lives’ (2:13), ‘the so-called “deep secrets of Satan”’ (2:24) | ‘that huge dragon – the ancient serpent, the one called the devil and Satan, who deceives the whole world’ (12:9), ‘the ancient serpent, who is the devil and Satan’ (20:2), ‘Satan will be released’ (20:7) |
| Jezebel | ‘You tolerate that woman Jezebel, who calls herself a prophetess, and by her teaching deceives my servants’ (2:20) | ‘the great prostitute who sits on many waters’ (17:2), ‘a golden cup filled with detestable things and unclean things from her sexual immorality’ (17:4), ‘the great prostitute who corrupted the earth with her sexual immorality’ (19:2) |
In the case of ‘those who follow the teachings of Balaam’ (2:14), and ‘that woman Jezebel’ (2:20), the enemy starts as a problem in a local ecclesia and develops into a foe endangering all the ecclesias, as if to show that ecclesial problems which are not dealt with when small will eventually become catastrophically large. The two exceptions are the Nicolaitans, who are mentioned twice in the letters but never again in the rest of the book (2:6, 15), and satan, who is identified as external to the ecclesia and already foe for more than one ecclesia (2:9, 13, 24; 3:9). However, both the prostitute and the teachings of the false prophet emerge from the context of the early ecclesias. Their identity in the later chapters therefore must be sought within the context of apostate Christianity, as in the early chapters.
Conclusion
In Revelation, Old Testament characters, figures, and symbols are removed from their original Jewish context and placed explicitly in a Christian context; initially and most clearly, in the first three chapters. This guides expositor to read them throughout the book with Christian referents, rather than Jewish referents.
Additionally, two key enemies of Christ and the saints in Revelation are described initially in microcosm at the ecclesial level, before being identified later at a ‘global’ level. The conclusion to which this leads is that these are foes which emerged from within the ecclesia rather than from an external source.
These facts are fundamental to understanding the use of symbols in Revelation, and must be the starting point of any hermeneutical approach to the book. Interpretations failing to take these facts into account will lead inevitably to inaccurate conclusions.
The Origin of the Organic World – Part One