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The Glory of Kings: A Festschrift for James B. Jordan
Fyodor Dostoevsky
(Christian Encounters Series)
Athanasius
(Foundations of Theological Exegesis and Christian Spirituality)
The Four: A Survey of the Gospels
Defending Constantine: The Twilight of an Empire and the Dawn of Christendom
From Behind the Veil: The Epistles of John
Deep Exegesis:The Mystery of Reading Scripture
1 & 2 Kings
Brazos Theological Commentary
The Promise Of His Appearing: An Exposition Of Second Peter
A Great Mystery: Fourteen Wedding Sermons
Deep Comedy: Trinity, Tragedy, And Hope In Western Literature
Miniatures & Morals: The Christian Novels of Jane Austen
The Priesthood of the Plebs: A Theology of Baptism
A Son To Me: An Exposition of 1 & 2 Samuel
From Silence to Song: The Davidic Liturgical Revolution
Ascent to Love: A Guide to Dante's Divine Comedy
Blessed Are the Hungry: Meditations on the Lord's Supper
A House For My Name: A Survey of the Old Testament
Heroes of the City of Man: A Christian Guide to Select Ancient Literature
Brightest Heaven of Invention: A Christian Guide To Six Shakespeare Plays
Wise Words: Family Stories That Bring the Proverbs to Life
The Kingdom and the Power: Rediscovering the Centrality of the Church
In a 2007 essay on leonine imagery in the Journal for the Study of Pseudepigrapha, Brent Strawn helpfully summarizes the associations of the lion in the Bible, Apocrypha, Dead Sea Scrolls, New Testament Apocrypha and Pseudepigrapha, and Gnostic texts. It’s a fascinating survey, rich in colorful detail (like the story of the baptized lion in the Acts of Paul).
His main question, though, is why Revelation does the bait-and-switch of first introducing Jesus as Lion, then immediately, and permanently, shifting the imagery to Lamb. Most of the commentary on this switch has been on the Lamb side of the question, but Strawn raises the question, Why even mention the lion to begin with if it is simply going to be abandoned? His answer is that John is shown a Lion who instantly becomes a Lamb because of the negative associations of the lion:
posted by Peter J. Leithart on Saturday, February 4, 2012 at 11:27 am
“Bowl” (phiale) is used twelve times in the New Testament, all in Revelation. This is obviously the number of Israel. Israel’s twelve tribes are the twelve golden vessels of God, molded by God, fired in the furnace of affliction, shined up for service in God’s house. Once in Revelation, in 5:8, the bowls contain incense that is the prayer of the saints. The other eleven vials are filled with the wrath of God, the wine that is squeezed from the harvested grapes, which is the blood of saintly martyrs (Revelation 15:7; 16:1-4, 8, 10, 12, 17; 17:1; 21:9).
The two uses of bowls are connected: The prayers of the saints are prayers for vengeance for blood that has been shed (cf. 6:9-11), and when the prayers ascend and the blood descends, the Lord brings an end to the harlot-city that drinks holy blood.
There is a neat little anthropology here:
posted by Peter J. Leithart on Friday, February 3, 2012 at 3:49 pm
John sees the Lamb “in the midst of the throne” (Revelation 5:6), precisely where he had seen the living creatures (4:6). Before the Lamb’s arrival, the four creatures make up the seat of the throne – they are in its midst; and they are also surrounding the throne, forming the outer structure. The Lord is enthroned on the beasts, and He is surrounded by the beasts as if they were guardians of the throne.
Now, however, the Lamb is in the midst of the throne, and also in the midst of the four living creatures. That means He is located where the Enthronement is located. He appears already in the middle of the creatures. He is also in the middle of the twenty-four elders. The Lamb has taken center stage, and has in a sense replaced the four living creatures as the throne of God. We never again see the beasts “in the midst of the throne.” A voice comes from the midst of the four beasts (6:6), but that is the voice of the Father or the Son, and in 7:17 we read again that the Lamb is in the midst of the throne.
The Lamb is a Cherubic creature. He is introduced as a Lion, but also as a Lamb. He is a strange Lamb or Lion, with far too many horns and eyes. He is a composite being that sums up all creation, and He is now the throne of His Father, the new cherubic chariot of God.
posted by Peter J. Leithart on Friday, February 3, 2012 at 3:30 pm
The Lamb is as if slain, but stands in heaven (Revelation 5:6). That might appear odd, John knows his sacrificial system. This is precisely what happened to all lambs that were slain on Israel’s altars.
The sacrificial procedure was not completed when the Lamb was killed. The Lamb was killed, dismembered, and then turned to smoke that ascended to God. The sacrificial sequence moved from presenting and slaying of a Lamb to its appearance in the presence of Yahweh. Standing is a priestly posture, and so the Lamb is slain and turned to smoke so that He can enter the smoky cloud of God’s presence and stand before the Lord to minister as priest.
Lambs also ascended to Yahweh’s throne to share it. No human being was qualified to share Yahweh’s throne, but what the worshiper could not do, a lamb-turned-to-smoke does. The Lamb, again, does what all sacrificial lambs do – ascends to the throne as Priest-King.
posted by Peter J. Leithart on Friday, February 3, 2012 at 3:26 pm
Most English translations inform us that there is a book “in the hand of” the One Enthroned in Revelation 5. That is more than the Greek says. In the Greek, the word “hand” does not appear, and the preposition (epi) doesn’t mean “in” but rather “on” or “upon.” When John sees the Angel come with a book “in” his hand in chapter 10, he uses the preposition en. Commentators handle the odd preposition by suggesting that the scroll is lying on the Enthroned One’s open hand. There’s a better solution: The book is not in His hand at all. It is simply “on the right” of the Enthroned One. (This is thoroughly argued in various places by Ranko Stefanovic.) The book sits beside Him on a double throne (cf. Revelation 3:21), waiting for someone worthy to come to take the book and occupy the throne.
This is only a slight change, but it opens up various lines of typology that enrich our understanding of the scene. According to Deuteronomy 31:24-26, the priests were to place the “book of the law,” Deuteronomy itself, “beside the ark of the covenant of Yahweh your God, that it may remain there as a witness against you.” That is a type of the book in Revelation 5, which is to the right side of the ark-throne of the Father. But at the beginning of Revelation 5, the book is sitting unused. No one is reading it, no one is worthy. Even unused, it is a witness against the covenant people. But if the book is to do what it was designed to do, it shouldn’t just sit there; it needs to be taken up and read so that what the book requires can be carried out.
The Lamb’s reception of the book thus resembles Josiah’s discovery of the book of the law: Someone discovers and opens a sealed book in the temple, and reads out the curses that are coming because Israel has not kept all that the law demands.
posted by Peter J. Leithart on Saturday, January 28, 2012 at 6:33 am
John uses the verb eido (see, know) seventy times in the Apocalypse. The word is translated in various ways (behold, saw, look), which obscures the Greek pattern. Seventy is the number of the nations, the seventy uses perhaps reinforce the fact that Revelation describes the bringing of the nations into the city of God.
The distribution is also interesting. Seven times in his messages to the churches Jesus says “I saw/know your works” (oida ta erga; 2:2, 9, 13, 19; 3:1, 8, 15). With His burning eyes, Jesus sees everything and judges rightly. The sevenfold viewing also links to creation. The Septuagint of Genesis 1 uses the phrase eiden ho theos eight times (1:4, 8, 10, 12, 18, 21, 25, 31). Jesus is the Creator of the churches surveying not His works but the works of the members of the church. His seven viewings match the seven eyes (5:6).
50 of the 70 occurrences of the verb are “I saw” statements from John (1:12, 17; 4:1, 4; 5:1, 2, 6, 11; 6:1, 2, 3, 5, 8, 9, 12; 7:1, 2, 9, 14; 8:2, 13; 9:1, 17; 10:1, 5; 13:1, 2, 3, 11; 14:1, 6, 14; 15:1, 2, 5; 16:13; 17:3, 6 [2x]; 18:1; 19:11, 17, 19; 20:1, 4, 11, 12; 21:1, 2, 22). Filled as he is with the seven burning eye-Spirits of the Lamb, John is able to see 7 x 7fold, plus one. The numerology points to Pentecost and Jubilee: John sees a “50,” the firstfruits gift of the Spirit and the year of release announced by the blowing of a trumpet.
That leaves 13 other uses. Once John speaks of his own sight in the third person (1:2). Eight times, someone addresses John and tells him what “you see” (1:19, 20; 7:14; 17:8, 12, 15, 16, 18), usually for the purposes of interpretation. The other four uses describe what some character “sees” or “knows” (12:12, 13; 18:7; 19:12).
posted by Peter J. Leithart on Friday, January 27, 2012 at 2:20 pm
At the beginning of the millennium, the saints sit on thrones and “judgment is given to them” (Revelation 20:4). The phrase is ambiguous: Does this mean “the power to judge was given them” or “they received a favorable judgment from the court?” The context of Revelation doesn’t decide the issue, but the phrase comes from Daniel 7, and that source text provides an answer. The phrase occurs in Daniel 7:22, in the midst of the angel’s explanation of the vision that Daniel has just witnessed. He is explaining the “little horn” who “wages war with the saints and overpowers them” (v. 21). But at this point the Ancient of Days arrives, and “judgment was given to the saints of the Highest One,” with the result that the saints “took possession of the kingdom” (v. 22).
In context, “judgment given” means that the Ancient of Days gives the saints victory over the horn. That is an act of judgment insofar as the war between the horn and the saints is imagined as a judicial contest, a struggle over the right, which the Ancient of Days decides. Thus, “judgment is given” in the sense that the Ancient of Days decides in favor of the saints in their real-world struggle with the horn. This is the “deliverdict” declared by the Ancient of Days, His enacted justification of His holy ones.
But the text immediately goes on to say that the saints receive a kingdom and as the text proceeds it is clear that they are given power to rule (vv. 27-28). Revelation has the same sequence: The martyr-saints who are “given judgment” reign with Christ for a thousand hears. Justification by the Ancient of Days takes the form of victory in a historical struggle, but also results in the elevation of the justified to rule.
posted by Peter J. Leithart on Thursday, December 29, 2011 at 6:03 am
In one of his many provocative asides during his lectures on Revelation, James Jordan suggests that the sevenfold praise of the Lamb (5:12) matches the sevenfold description of Jesus in the first vision (1:14-16). Jordan doesn’t elaborate, so let’s see how this works out. As usual, some are more obvious than others. We could also link this sequence with the days of creation and the feasts of Israel.
1. Power = head and hair like white wool. That connection makes sense, since the white hair links Jesus with the Ancient of Days, who presides in the heavenly court of Daniel 7.
2. Riches =eyes like a flame of fire. Eyes are organs of judgment and evaluation. Jesus’ eyes assess the value of all riches?
3. Wisdom = feet like burnished bronze, as bronze glows in a furnace. The Greek word for “burnished bronze” contains the word for incense (libano), which is a symbol of prayer (cf. Revelation 8:1-3). Offering prayer at the feet of Jesus is a source of wisdom.
posted by Peter J. Leithart on Wednesday, December 21, 2011 at 6:40 am
It’s often noted, but during this Advent the point struck home with particular force: John begins his gospel with the incarnational gospel that the “Word became flesh and tabernacled (skenoo) among us.” God the Word descends from heaven to pitch His tent with men.
But that incarnational descent is not, in a sense, completed unti the revelation of the bride. The same verb (skenoo) appears again in Revelation 21:3: “Behold the tent of God with men, and he will tabernacle with them.” But this describes not the descent of the Son but of the Bride (v. 1).
God’s residence with humanity doesn’t reach its end until the Spirit-filled Bride descends from heaven. The church is not so much a “continuing incarnation” as a “completion of the incarnation.”
posted by Peter J. Leithart on Tuesday, December 6, 2011 at 5:43 am
The first song of the heavenly choir is sung by the four living creatures (Revelation 4:8). They sing not of creation or redemption, but of God Himself.
The song is an intricate knot of intersecting structures. There is, first, a simple chiasm:
A. Triple “holy”
B. Three titles: Lord, God, Pantokrator
A’. Triple name: “He who was, is, comes”
This is equally a triad of triads, a trinity of trinities, and perhaps is to be linked with the Triune name:
posted by Peter J. Leithart on Saturday, November 12, 2011 at 10:26 am
John is caught up to the heavenly temple (Revelation 4), and it’s not surprising that he sees a “sea” in front of God’s throne. The sea is a recognizable peace of temple furniture. Further, the sea corresponds to the “waters above” that were caught up above the firmament on the second day of creation. Since John is in heaven, it’s not surprising that he would see the heavenly waters from above.
There is something of a puzzle, however, in the fact that the sea is described as being “as a glass sea like crystal” (4:6; Gr. hos thalassa huline omoia krustallo). The sea seems to be solid, a gemstone, in contrast to the raging sea of nations that appears so frequently in Scripture. Beyond that, what is the force of these extra details about the sea?
We can begin by noting the re-use of these terms later in Revelation.
posted by Peter J. Leithart on Saturday, November 12, 2011 at 9:41 am
Davis convincingly argues that the scene in Revelation 4-5 is a meeting of the divine council, prophet present, to deliberate and pass judgment. What’s the issue before the court? Davis cites this explanation from Adele Yabro Collins:
“In the context of the Apocalypse as a whole, it is clear that the problem facing the divine council is the rebellion of Satan which is paralleled by rebellion on earth. Chapter five presupposes the old story of Satan’s rebellion against God which leads to the fall of creation. This old story is retold in the Apocalypse to express the feeling that the world had gone astray, that all creation was deeply alienated from the source of its being. Human relations had become unjust and the injustice had corrupted the natural world as well. The tears of the prophet express the desire of the faithful to have this situation rectified.”
When things get back, there’s only one thing to do: Send in a Lamb.
posted by Peter J. Leithart on Thursday, November 10, 2011 at 1:07 pm
In his discussion of the four creatures of Revelation 4, Davis notes the connections between the faces and the four principal tribes of Israel: Judah/Lion, Reuben/Man, Ephraim/Ox, and Dan/Eagle (serpent). He adds, “Scholars who link these insignias with the forces of nature are probably at least partially correct. The insignias of lion, man, ox, and eagle represent the general categories (wild animals, man, domesticated animals, and birds) of all the animal kingdom. . . .therefore they may serve, in a broad sense, as throne guardians for the entire earth. In this sense, the whole earth (all of God’s creation) would be his sanctuary/temple.”
Davis is right, I think, and one of the intriguing aspects of this is the fact that there is a large class of creatures left out – fish and other sea creatures. The faces of the cherubim are the faces of land creatures (birds fly over the face of the firmament, but don’t live in the sky). In a cosmic setting, we have heaven, earth/cherubim, and abyss; in a political setting, we have Yahweh, cherubic Israel, and the sea of nations. In the new covenant, the living creatures cede their place to the land-and-sea people of the church.
posted by Peter J. Leithart on Thursday, November 10, 2011 at 12:07 pm
What is destroyed in Revelation 17-20 is not only the Harlot, but the Harlot-with-Beast. False Israel and the apostate, bestial oikoumene collapse together. And this composite reality has a single replacement – the Bride that comes down from heaven, who becomes not just the replacement for the Harlot but for the whole Harlot-with-Beast complex. The church is not only the new Bride, but the new oikoumene.
The coming of the Bride is the beginning of the “ecumenical” age.
posted by Peter J. Leithart on Thursday, November 10, 2011 at 11:10 am
In his The Heavenly Court Judgment of Revelation 4-5
posted by Peter J. Leithart on Thursday, November 10, 2011 at 11:07 am
Each of Jesus’ seven letters to the churches in Revelation 1-3 ends with a promise to the “victors” (ho nikon). The blessings form a progression in various ways – they link up with different stages of the OT, and they also form a progression toward enthronement with Jesus. To whit:
To Ephesians: Tree of life.
To Smyreans: Having eaten from the tree of life, they are delivered from the second death.
To Pergamumeans: Having eaten life and having been delivered from the second death, they receive manna, a stone, and a name.
The progression of the last four letters is clearer:
posted by Peter J. Leithart on Thursday, November 10, 2011 at 10:58 am
Does it matter whether we say the events recorded in the Bible happened? Couldn’t we draw the same “lessons” regardless?
Not if one of the “lessons” has to do with the pattern of God’s action in history. Whether tropological or allegorical, “timeless” and ahistorical interpretations neutralize the text.
Take the example of Revelation. Most scholars today insists that we should not try to tie the images of the book to actual historical events. Revelation instead depicts the realities underlying all human history. Thus for instance, the beast of Revelation 13 should not be understood as “Rome” but as “Empire” as such. Revelation’s images uncover the timeless essence of political power. John the seer is Foucaultian avant la lettre.
That essentializing mode of reading makes it impossible to make discriminating hermeneutical and political judgments. Empire is empire is empire. If, by contrast, the beast of Revelation 13 refers to an actual empire and the events of Revelation 12-17 depict a real series of events (written in images), then we remain open to the possibility that there might be a non-bestial form of power. Bestial powers might appear again; new Rome might arise. But by reading ad litteram, we aren’t paralyzed by the conclusion that all power is bestial.
posted by Peter J. Leithart on Saturday, October 29, 2011 at 8:21 am
Jesus says, “I am the arche and telos” (Revelation 21:6). ”Beginning and end” is too colorless, too geometric. Jesus is not the two points at either end of a line segment.
Better to render this more “dynamically” and “organically” (forgive the hurrah words): Origin and destination; initiative and completion; source and goal; plan and execution, planner and overseer; starting block and winner’s prize; dawn and dusk; blueprint and building; call and dismissal; etc.
Jesus is not the ever-receding beginning, or the ever-approaching end, but both source and goal together, not just economically but ontologically. At a stroke, this proves Jenson right.
posted by Peter J. Leithart on Thursday, October 27, 2011 at 4:12 am
Some aspects of Wes Howard-Brook and Anthony Gwyther’s Unveiling Empire: Reading Revelation Then and Now (Bible & Liberation)
1. Sabbath: Links with the worship of Revelation 4, the initial vision of the enthroned Father and the continuous worship of the enthroned elders.
2. Passover: Obviously link with the worship of the Lamb in Revelation 5. Lamb as mediator/firmament.
posted by Peter J. Leithart on Wednesday, October 26, 2011 at 2:49 pm
“Cosmetic” comes from the Greek kosmos, which typically means “world,” and from techne, which means “art” or even “technique.”
The etymology throws lines in several directions. A kosmos is an adorned, arranged, and beautified world. In the Genesis account, Yahweh displays His artistic skill in adorning the world as His future bride, until the bride descends from heaven “kosmeticized” for her husband (Revelation 21:2).
Cosmetics make women into worlds, like the bride of the Song of Songs, in whom the lover finds the universe. And if cosmetics and other adornments are kosmos-making, it seems no accidental that women adorn their faces and hair with sparkling astral jewelry.
posted by Peter J. Leithart on Thursday, October 6, 2011 at 5:54 am
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