The Revelation opens
with what is believed to be the original title: “The revelation of Jesus
Christ, Which God gave him…” The word “revelation” is translated from the
original Greek word “apocalypse.” It’s believed Revelation was the earliest
writing to employ this word. As a title, apocalyptic or revelation literature
had long been familiar to both Jews and Christians. Similarly, at early stages
of its development nearly every religion had some doctrine that leans in the
direction of apocalyptic ideas. There are passages in Amos, Micah, Isaiah, and
Jeremiah, by which the prophets reflected popular speculation about the coming “day
of Yahweh.” This apocalyptic tendency in the literature of the Old Testament
was heightened in post-exile times.
According to the
authenticity of Revelation, the author calls himself John (The Revelation of St. John the Divine).
Justin Martyr
Justin Martyr A.D.
139-161, an early Christian apologist, quotes from the Apocalypse, as John the apostle’s work, the prophecy of
the millennium of the saints, to be followed by the general resurrection and
judgment.
This testimony of
Justin is referred to also by Eusebius. In the early part of the second
century, Justin, held his controversy with Trypho, a learned Jew, at Epheaus, where John had been living
about thirty-five years before. According to Trypho, “the Revelation had been
given to John, one of the twelve apostles of Christ.”
Irenaeus
Melito, bishop of
Sardis (about 171 A.D.), is said to have a written treatises on the Apocalypse of John, and, Irenaeus (about 180
A.D.), the disciple of John, and supposed by Archbishop Usher to be the Angel of the Church of Smyrna, “is
most decided again and again in quoting the Apocalypse as the work of the
apostle John.”
The number of the beast
did not appear in the vision of the original Apocalypse. According to
Archbishop Usher in alluding to the mystical number of the beast, 666, found in
all old copies of the Apocalypse, “we do not hazard a confident theory as to
the name of Antichrist; for if it had been necessary that his name should be
proclaimed openly at the present time, it would have been declared by him who
saw the apocalyptic vision.
The Jewish apocalyptic
was the consequence of alien influence. The literature of Babylonia and Iran
reveals an earlier date than does the Old Testament. Apocalyptic ideas of a
resurrection and a final judgment, and an imagery of the catastrophic events
that will mark the end of the present age, became naturalized within Judaism
after the exile period. It was then that the Jews became vassals of the Persians,
and as Judaism’s political overlord, it left its mark on post-exile Jewish
writing.
Revelation 7:1-8, shows
a pause in the fearful succession of plagues. All that has gone on before is
the preparatory to the breaking of the 7th seal, the event that will
precipitate the dreadful drama of the world’s history.
The 7th seal
During this frightful
interlude the 144,000 of the spiritual people of Israel are secured for their
protection against demonic powers. It’s believed the 144,000 is drawn in equal
numbers from every tribe of the sons of Israel, which is believed to be the
core of the Jewish faithful of all the ideal tribes. However, John interprets
it to refer to Christians of every racial origin.
The 2nd
vision of this interlude, the 144,000 symbolizes the Church as the true Israel.
The great multitude which no man could number from all people of the world is
the church triumphant in heaven, the company of the glorified and victorious
faithful awaiting the final consummation of God’s purpose. The vision is
recounted by the prophet to inspire the communities to which he is writing. The
vast throng in heaven are those who will remain loyal despite the pressures of
persecution and the threats of death.
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