THE REVELATION OF JESUS CHRIST TO HIS SERVANT JOHN

Introduction Lesson #2

“There is need for shrewdness here: anyone clever may interpret the number of the beast: it is the number of a human being, the number is 666.” Rev. 13:18

Dating of the Book of Revelation—Majority view:

It is the view of the majority of modern Biblical scholars that The Revelation to John was written during the reign of the Roman Emperor Domitian who ruled from AD 81-96. This view is based solely on a passage written by St. Irenaeus (died202AD) in his book Adversus Haereses, 5:30:3. (Irenaeus discussing the “Beast” passages in Revelation) “If it were necessary for his name to be proclaimed openly at the present time, it would have been declared by him (John) who saw the revelation. For it was seen not long ago, but almost in our own generation, at the end of the reign of Domitian.”

There are, however major problems with this view for me as an historian:

Irenaeus’ passage in the Greek language is somewhat ambiguous. “For it was seen…” could be referring to the book itself, which was not fully circulated among the various Churches in Asia Minor and the West until the reign of Domitian. No where does Irenaeus say that the book was written at that time although he does day that John lived until the reign of Domitian.

Irenaeus is the only source for this late dating of Revelation; all other “sources” are merely quoting him.

Although there is evidence of the persecution of Christians during the latter part of Domitian’s reign (in circa 94AD he executed his cousin, the influential pro-counsel Flavius Clemens and exiled Clemens’ sister Domitia which may have been because they embraced Christian beliefs), he usually exiled troublesome Christian leaders, allowing them to return a few years later. There is absolutely no historical proof of widespread persecution during Domitian’s reign. The only years of widespread persecution of Christians prior to his reign occurred during the reign of the Emperor Nero.

Dating of the Book of Revelation—Minority View:

There are, however, scholars who believe that The Revelation to John was written during the reign of the Roman Emperor Nero who ruled from AD 54-68. I agree with the minority of Biblical scholars who favor a date close to the death of the Roman Emperor Nero. I base my view on the information provided in the historical record. Here’s why I take the minority view:

The lack of evidence for a great persecution under the rule of the Emperor Domitian
The volumes of evidence supporting widespread Christian persecution during the reign of Nero.
The suggested list of the 7 (or 8) emperors in Revelation chapter 17
The mention of the existence of the Temple in Jerusalem in Revelation 11:1

Let’s take these points one at a time:

Point #1: There is no historical evidence to support a widespread persecution of Christians during Domitian’s reign. He was the son and bother of two previous emperors; Domitian’s father Vespasian and his older brother, Titus. Both previous emperors held, if not completely a favorable, at least an ambivalent view of Christians because they did not participate in the Jewish Revolt of 66AD. The Emperor Vespasian even gave permission to Simon, Bishop of Jerusalem, to return with his Christian followers to Jerusalem from Perea (across the Jordan River) several years after the destruction of the Jerusalem [in 70AD]. Those years of peace saw a great increase in the numbers of Christian communities across the Roman Empire. Soldiers of common and high rank, Roman senators, and Romans of noble birth were converting to Christianity. Domitian’s negative reaction to Christians later in his reign may have been more of a fear of the spread of the influence of Christians who were influential in Roman politics and in the army. He also wished to be worshiped as a god towards the end of his life when mental illness became an increasing burden. This is the period when there is some evidence of persecution on a limited scale. His cousin, the Roman political leader Clemens (or Clement in English) was his most famous victim. The charge was that Clemens was “impious” because he refused to sacrifice to the Roman gods, including his emperor, because of his Christian faith. Clemens, a proconsul who was known for his honesty and integrity, was very much admired by the people of Rome. The motivation for his execution could also have been envy and fear of Clemens’ influence with the Roman populous.

Point #2: Both the Roman historian Tacitus (Annals XV.44) and the writings of St. Clement of Rome (1 Clement 6) speak of the deaths of “immense multitudes” of Christians during the reign of Nero, but do not to mention any other ancient accounts of sever persecution in the reign of the Emperor Domitian.

Point #3: Read Revelation 17: 9-11. This passage is important for fixing the dating of John’s vision. John, in this passage, seems to be speaking of 2 lists. It is possible that these are the 2 lists of the Roman emperors. There were 2 approved lists of the emperors used by Roman historians. One list began with Julius Caesar and the other with his successor Augustus:

LIST OF ROMAN EMPERORS

The Roman Historian Tacitus in his history, The Annals, begins his list of Roman emperors with Augustus Caesar (Octavian), but the Roman Historian Suetonius begins his list of Roman Emperors in Lives of the Twelve Caesars with Julius Caesar as the first of the Roman Emperors as does Dio Cassius in his Roman History and Josephus in his Antiquities of the Jews. There were, therefore, two official lists in use in the first century AD.

Suetonius’ List	Tacitus’ List
1. Julius Caesar died 44BC
2. Augustus Caesar died 14AD	1. Augustus Caesar
3. Tiberius died 37AD	2. Tiberius
4. Caligula died 41AD	3. Caligula
5. Claudius died 54AD	4. Claudius
6. Nero died 68AD	5. Nero
7. Galba died 69AD	6. Galba
8. Ortho died 69AD	7. Ortho
9. Vitilleus died 69AD	8. Vitilleus
10. Vespasian died 79AD	9. Vespasian
11. Titus died 81AD	10. Titus
12. Domitian died 96AD	11. Domitian

On one list Nero is the 5^th name; on the other the 6^th. “Five have fallen, one is, the other has not yet come; but when he does come, he must remain for a little while.” Nero committed suicide (with a little help from a friend) in June of 68AD after a reign of 14 years. He was immediately replaced by Galba who was murdered in 69 and was replaced by Otho who only lasted 95 days before his murder. This historical succession seems to me to fit the passage. Then take into consideration the next few lines: “The beast who once was, and now is not, is an eighth king. He belongs to the seventh and is going to his destruction.” Ortho is both #7 and #8 on the lists of emperors. Is it possible from this passage to place the writing of John’s book just after Nero’s death during the short reign of Galba? Also see Revelation 17:a “The beast you have seen was once alive and is alive no longer:” This passage also seems to point to Nero as dead. At any rate if the seven heads and 10 horns refers to Roman emperors, Domition does not make the list because he would be #11 or #12 depending on which list you followed.

There is also the interesting connection between the passage in Revelation 13:18 “There is need for shrewdness here: anyone clever may interpret the number of the beast: it is the number of a human being, the number is 666.” Some ancient sources list this number as 616. It is interesting that the gematria, the numerical value of a word or name (see the document “The Significance of Numbers in Scripture”), of Neron Caesar (an alternating spelling of Nero’s name) in Hebrew adds up to 666, while Nero Caesar adds up to 616. Caesar-God adds up to 616 and all 6 of the Roman numerals (I=1, V= 5, X=10, L=50, C=100, D=500) add up to 666. Note: M = 1,000 was to D’s back to back.

Point #4: Revelation 11:1 “Then I was given a long cane like a measuring rod, and I was told, ‘Get up and measure God’s Temple, and the altar, and the people who worship there; but exclude the outer court and do not measure it, because it has been handed over to gentiles..” The Temple in Jerusalem was destroyed by the Romans the 9^th of Ab (July/ August) in 70AD. If this were the reign of Domitian in circa 96 John would have protested that he could not measure the Temple because it no longer stood. The Temple is still standing so the latest the vision could have taken place is prior to 70AD.

The Different “Schools” of Thought in Interpreting Revelation:

Most scholars agree that the letters to the 7 Churches describe the conditions of 7 historical churches in John’s own time. Most scholars also agree that the last half of chapter 20 and all of chapters 21 & 22 are prophetic visions of the end times which will culminate in the second Advent of Christ, the great Judgement and the creation of the new Jerusalem and the eternal life of the saints with God. The interpretation of the middle chapters hinge on two important interpretive questions: What is the historical referent of the visions and what is the character of the thousand-year period described in chapter 20? There are four different schools of thought on the interpretation of the middle chapters of Revelation:

Preterest: from the Latin term for ‘past’. All the events of Revelation were fulfilled during the period of the Roman Empire. One of the most influential champions of this view was a Spanish Jesuit priest , Luis de Alcanzar (1554-1613). This view has the strength of making John’s vision exceedingly meaningful for the early Church but less relevant to the present age. Some variant of this view is adopted by contemporary Catholic scholars.

Futurist: Spanish Jesuit doctor of theology, Francisco Ribera (1537-91)and St. Robert Bellarmine (1542-1621). This school of thought holds that the middle chapters, beginning with chapter 4, along with the concluding passages, apply strictly to the future. Today most evangelical Protestants (including the rapture theorists) and many Catholics hold to a futurist interpretation. The difficulty of this view is that it robs John’s vision of any meaning for the early Christians for whom he was writing.

Historicist; teach that the events described in the middle chapters have foundtheir fulfillment throughout the 2,000 years of the Church’s history. This view was popular among medieval dissenters in the Catholic Church and became widespread in the Protestant Reformation because it could be used as anti-papal propaganda: the whore of Babylon is the Catholic Church and the Beast is the Catholic Pope. This view was popular with Martin Luther, John Calvin and other anti-Catholic reformation leaders. This Historicist view is less popular today but still has its supports. 7 trumpets equal 7 historic invasions of Christendom by enemy armies like the Goths, Vandals, etc. The major disadvantage to this view is that historicists fail to agree on which events of human history are foreshadowed in the symbolism of the vision.

Spiritual- Idealist: particular historical events and characters have no one-on-one correspondence to the scenarios and figures in Revelation but John’s imagery simply symbolizes spiritual realities like the fight between good and evil, God and the Devil, etc. which Christians witness in every generation. The references to the sun, moon, and stars for example are symbols for political rulers. In this view all of John’s vision is concerned with ideas and principles. The strength of this view is that it secures the relevance of John’s vision for all periods of the church history but its weakness lies in its refusal to find a firm historical context to any of John’s message.

The theory of Progressive Parallels: this theory developed from the literary analysis of John’s Revelation and can be used in the interpretation of a number of the 4 different schools of thought concerning the interpretation of Revelation. This view holds that the book is structured in 7 sections that run parallel to each other. Each of these sections portrays the Church and the world from the time of Christ’s First Advent to the time of his Second Coming. In other words it is not a historical chronology but the story starts all over again with each new sections but told from a slightly different perspective. (i.e. repetition is underlining! Pharaoh’s dreams which Joseph interpreted). This really isn’t such a new view. Victorinus of Pettau (who died under the Diocletian persecution of 284-305AD) noticed this and wrote that this book “does not set forth a continuous series of future events, but repeats the same sequences of events under various forms.”(Introduction to the New Testament, Bosimard p. 702)

While each of these “schools” in most forms are approved by the Catholic Church, it is not necessary to accept any one theory in its pure form. Many modern commentators may teach that one scenario in the middle chapters of Revelation is a symbol of the present age, while teaching that another is actually a prophecy of a future event. St Augustine held that the “first resurrection” in Rev. 20:5-6 refers to the present regeneration of the soul through baptism, and that the thousand-year reign of Christ in Revelation 20:4-10 represents the era of the Church between the two advents but he also taught that the antichrist is a specific individual who will appear toward the end of history to persecute the Church for a literal three and a half years.

The Secret Rapture Theory:

I recommend the book The Rapture Trap by Paul Thigpen for a complete understanding of the problems with the so-called rapture theory. The problem is that Evangelical Protestants who support the futuristic dispensation theory of Revelation are teaching that there will be 2 Second Comings of Christ. First return of Christ in the so-called “Rapture” (strictly a Protestant term) and later at the end of the age before the final judgement. The theory of 2 Second Comings of Christ is not supported in Scripture and is not supported by the Catholic Church. It is a 19^th century teaching made popular by a man named John Darby and is today taught by the Dallas Theological Seminary and Protestant writes like Tim Lehay, author of the Left Behind book series.

Some scholars maintain it is possible to embrace all these schools of thought at once and the Catholic Church agrees to the extent that she has always taught that Scripture can have several levels of meaning. Example: One of the beasts of Revelation might refer simultaneously to the Roman Emperor and persecutor of Christians, Nero Caesar, to Nazi Germany, and the final antichrist still to come.

The question of the Thousand Year Reign in Revelation 20:1-10:

The most hotly debated issue is the ‘Millenium.’ This is a word from the Latin for a thousand years. There are three schools of thought concerning the millenium passages of Revelation (this word does not appear any where else in the Bible).

Premillennial View: After Christ returns to earth in glory, He will reign for a literal thousand years before the final consummation of God’s plan. The name comes from their belief in Christ’s Second Coming before the millennial reign. Some who follow this school think that this reign takes place with the saints in heaven but historically this position has tended to believe in a literal, earthly kingdom with its capital city at Jerusalem and this is a position the Catholic Church explicitly rejects. This view was known as the ‘chilian’ heresy (from Greek word for thousand) of 4-5 Cent. This is the same heresy proposed by Jehovah Witness Church and others who believe that before the final judgement day, Christ would come again in the flesh and in human history to rule visibly in an earthly kingdom.

There are actually two forms of this theory: historic premillennialism (discussed above) and dispensational premillennialism. The dispentational premillennialists believe in 2 Second Comings of Christ: the so called ‘Rapture’ before the great Tribulation and a 2^nd Second Coming of Christ at the end of the age. Dispensationalism divides history into seven ‘dispensations,” or progressive stages in God’s revelation to humanity. The Seven Letters of Revelation Chapter 2-3 are seen as symbolically representing these seven stages.

The Catholic Church has pronounced on this form of milleniumism: 1944 Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith in Rome: “In recent times on several occasions this Supreme Sacred Congregation of the Holy Office has been asked what must be thought of the system of mitigated Millenarianism, which teaches, for example, that Christ the Lord before the final judgement, whether or not preceded by the resurrection of the many just, will come visibly to rule over this world. The answer is: The system of mitigated Millenarianism cannot be taught safely.”

Most fundamentalist Protestants are millenarians and some Catholics have been influenced by this view without knowing it is opposed to the teaching of the Church. There are also Catholics who hold the view that Christ will have an invisible spiritual reign on earth of one thousand years and maintain that this theory does not violate the Church’s prohibition of an earthly, physical reign. However CCC #676 teaches that to hope for any kind of future gold age does not agree with church doctrine.

The Postmillennial View: This view emerged from the teaching of the protestant John Calvin during the Protestant Reformation in the 16^th century AD. It teaches that the kingdom of God is now being extended through the world by the preaching of the gospel, social activism, and the work of the Holy Spirit in worldwide conversion. Through this process the world is eventually to be Christianized and the return of Christ to the earth will take place only at the close of a long period of righteousness and peace that will come at the END of the “millennium” which is either literal or symbolic (each of these views have variations within the view). This view also is not in harmony with CCC #677 “The kingdom will be fulfilled, then, not by a historic triumph of the Church through a progressive ascendancy, but only by God’s victory over the final unleashing of evil, which will cause His Bride to come down from heaven.”

Amillennialism: Literally means “no millennium,” which is a misnomer. Amillennialists believe in the millennium of Revelation chapter 20 but insist that it refers symbolically to the present age between Christ’s two advents rather than to a future, literal thousand years. For an explanation of this view I recommend St. Augustine’s City of God. St. Augustine [also spelled Augustine] taught that when Christ defeated the Devil through his passion on the cross, Satan, the ancient serpent” was bound. Satan was not totally removed from human history but he was restrained from exercising his whole power on man and from seducing those who belong to God through the covenant of Christ’s blood. Since that time Christ has been reigning on earth through His saints because He is reigning in the hearts of those on earth who love Him. St. Augustine also believed that just before the Second Advent at the end of the present age God will loose Satan one more time. Then the Devil “will rage with the whole force of himself and his fallen angels for three and a half years.” Some ‘amills’ do not insist on a literal three and a half year period but St. Augustine does. This is the period of the great tribulation. Although this view has been widely held in the Church since St. Augustine taught it in the 4^th century, the Church has never ruled on this theory one way or the other. The Church does teach that Christ reigns now and the Church is the sacrament of that reign in the world.

We will be revisiting these various theories of the Millennial Reign of Christ in Revelation chapter 20.

Suetonius’ List

Tacitus’ List