The Lamb has seven eyes which are the seven Spirits of God, and, as Richard Bauckham points out, Lamb and Spirit continue to track together throughout the book. The word “Lamb” appears 28 times in the book, which Bauckham rightly recognizes as a symbolic all-space-and-time number, the . . . . Continue Reading »
Beale notes the connection between the mark of the beast on the hand and forehead and Yahweh’s instruction that Israel place the Torah on hand and forehead as a reminder (Exodus 13:9). This link is especially sharp when we recognize that the beast from the land who is requiring this mark is . . . . Continue Reading »
In a post last week, I suggested that there is at least a tension, perhaps an internal contradiction, in Wright’s view that justification is both a declaration that creates a legal status and a declaration regarding a preexisting fact; it both creates the status “in the right” as . . . . Continue Reading »
When Paul talks about justification by faith, he normally contrasts it with justification by works. But elsewhere in Paul, “by faith” is contrasted with “by sight” (2 Corinthians 5:7). In 2 Corinthians 5, Paul is speaking of two different “walks,” but can the . . . . Continue Reading »
666 is the numerical value of Neron Caesar, spelled in Hebrew letters. It’s the number of a man. As Richard Bauckham points out ( Climax of Prophecy: Studies on the Book of Revelation ), 666 is also the numerical value of therion (beast), spelled in Hebrew letters. It is the number of the . . . . Continue Reading »
The beast from the land forms a priesthood. He turns the people of the land to worship the first beast, and Mosaic/Elijan signs and wonders encourage the people to worship the image of the beast (Revelation 13:14). He can bring fire from heaven, not only like Elijah, but like Yahweh Himself who . . . . Continue Reading »
Each of the “letters” to the churches in Revelation 2-3 ends with a Christianized “shema”: He who has an ear, let him hear what the Spirit says to the churches. A sevenfold shema exhorts the saints to endure through the end of the old creation. The eighth shema is nestled in . . . . Continue Reading »
Revelation 13 is throughout a parody of John’s vision of the heavenly worship of Revelation 4. In both scenes, there is a sea. In both, there is a beast - a Lamb, and the composite predatory empire. In both, there is a beast slain - the lamb, and then one of the heads of the beast. Both . . . . Continue Reading »
The beast’s head is slain, a wound that is described as “the plague of his death” ( he plege tou thanatou ; Revelation 13:3). That might go in a couple directions. On the one hand, the Hebrew noun nega’ (plague) is used only once in the plague narratives, in Exodus 11:1, . . . . Continue Reading »
One of the heads of the sea beast is “slain” (Revelation 13) and then healed. It is an obvious parody of death and resurrection. Everyone in Revelation follows a slain-and-healed beast; it’s just a choice of which one. The Lamb is the one slain (5:6, 9, 12), slain long before the . . . . Continue Reading »
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