John the Seer/John the Baptist

The name John in Revelation 1:1 links the seer up with John the Baptist, the messenger who came from God to announce the coming of Christ. Some (JM Ford,Revelation (The Anchor Bible, Vol. 38)) have suggested that this points to John the Baptist and his circle as the source of the gospel. Thats . . . . Continue Reading »

Reformation Apocalypse

Irene Backus began her study of Reformation Readings of the Apocalypse: Geneva, Zurich, and Wittenbergout of frustration that Protestant commentaries on Revelation were widely unavailable. Her book is a straightforward summation of the ways Calvinists and Lutherans read the book.Those in . . . . Continue Reading »

Loving Life

The saints who overcome the dragon do so because of the blood of the Lamb, the word of their testimony, and because “they did not love their life even to death” (Revelation 12:11). Martyrs don’t care enough about their own lives to preserve them in the face of threats. This is the . . . . Continue Reading »

Barriers down

When John joins the heavenly liturgy (Revelation 4), he sees three main items of temple furniture - the throne (4:2-5a), the lambs that are the seven Spirits (4:5b), and a sea of glass (4:6a). In the temple, these were all in separate rooms: The ark-throne in the Most Holy Place, the lamps in the . . . . Continue Reading »

Evacuated Sabbath

In his classic study of The Paschal Liturgy and the Apocalypse , Massey Shepherd points to what he claims is a recurring pattern in Revelation’s heptamerous sequences: Apart from the seven letters at the beginning there is an “interlude” between “the sixth and seventh . . . . Continue Reading »

Discriminating Jesus

“You have left your first love,” Jesus tells the church at Ephesus (Revelation 2:4). That’s a serious charge, and if we said it, it would be quickly followed by denunciations and charges of apostasy. But Jesus also knows that the same people persevere, that they test false . . . . Continue Reading »