Revelation: the triumph of the Lamb

In Revelation John sends the visions he saw on Patmos to seven churches in Asia. It shows the Lamb who was slain reigning from the throne and overcoming all evil, and God dwelling with his people in a new heaven and a new earth.

Jacques Callot, Saint John on the Isle of Patmos, 1625 · Source

About the book

The book takes its name from its first words, "This is the revelation of Jesus Christ" (Revelation 1:1). The Greek word, , means an unveiling. The writer calls himself John and was on Patmos "because of the word of God and my testimony about Jesus" (Revelation 1:9). In the mid-second century Justin called this John one of the apostles of Christ Justin, Dialogue with Trypho 81, and Irenaeus writes, "John also, the Lord's disciple … says in the Apocalypse" Irenaeus, Against Heresies 4.20.11. So the church long held the apostle John to be its author. In the third century Dionysius of Alexandria, though he received the book as the work of a holy man, judged from its style, so unlike the Gospel's, that another John wrote it; many scholars today agree, while others still hold the apostle.

Irenaeus says the vision came towards the end of the emperor Domitian's reign Irenaeus, Against Heresies 5.30.3, so many date the book about AD 95; the map under the Jesus tab gives it as written in the AD 90s. Some scholars date it in the late 60s, after Nero's persecution, reading the temple of chapter 11 as still standing.

Revelation is three kinds of writing at once. It is a letter, beginning "John, To the seven churches in the province of Asia" (Revelation 1:4); a prophecy, calling itself "the words of this prophecy" (Revelation 1:3); and an apocalypse, which, like Daniel and Ezekiel, shows heaven's realities and the end of history in visions and symbols. Its numbers, beasts and colours are mostly picture language, drawn from Daniel, Ezekiel, the plagues of Egypt and the rest of the Old Testament.

How it unfolds

Chapters	What happens
1–3	Christ among the lampstands; letters to the seven churches
4–5	The throne in heaven and the Lamb who was slain
6–16	Seven seals, seven trumpets, seven bowls; the saints' struggle with the dragon and beast
17–20	Babylon's fall, the marriage of the Lamb, the thousand years, the last judgment
21–22	A new heaven and a new earth, the new Jerusalem

Key passages

The marble head of a young emperor wearing a wreath, set on a bust in armour and cloak. — Bust of Domitian, late 1st century (the chest added in the 18th century) (Louvre) · Source

To a church in trouble Christ first appears:

Do not be afraid. I am the First and the Last, the Living One. I was dead, and behold, now I am alive forever and ever! And I hold the keys of Death and of Hades.
Revelation 1:17-18

In an age when emperors were honoured as gods, John sees the throne of heaven and hears all creation sing, "Worthy is the Lamb who was slain, to receive power and riches and wisdom and strength and honor and glory and blessing!" (Revelation 5:12). The beast makes war on the saints, but "the Lamb will triumph over them" (Revelation 17:14). At the end a loud voice speaks:

Behold, the dwelling place of God is with man, and He will dwell with them. … ‘He will wipe away every tear from their eyes,’ and there will be no more death or mourning or crying or pain
Revelation 21:3-4

Christians have read the book in four main ways. Preterists take most of it as about the church under Rome in John's day; historicists, as many Protestants after the Reformation did, as a map of church history; futurists, most of it from chapter 4 on, as the events just before Christ returns; idealists, as pictures of the struggle between God and evil that every age lives through. Many interpreters today draw on more than one: written first to seven churches, true of every age, looking to a real end.

The thousand years of chapter 20 are read differently too. Amillennialists take them as the present age, from Christ's first coming to his return; postmillennialists look for a long age of peace as the gospel spreads, after which Christ comes; premillennialists, historic and dispensational, expect Christ to come first and reign on earth for a thousand years. All confess that Christ will return in body to judge and to make all things new; see Christ's return and the millennium, in the doctrine course.

The book and Christ

An elder tells John that "the Lion of the tribe of Judah, the Root of David, has triumphed" (Revelation 5:5), and John turns to see not a lion but "a Lamb who appeared to have been slain" (Revelation 5:6). The one John the Baptist called "the Lamb of God, who takes away the sin of the world" (John 1:29) has conquered by the cross and reigns from the throne.

The Bible's story ends where Genesis began. "That ancient serpent" (Revelation 20:2) is bound. The tree of life, barred to us when Adam was driven from the garden (Genesis 3:24), stands beside the river of life in the new Jerusalem (Revelation 22:2), and "No longer will there be any curse" (Revelation 22:3). The garden has become a city where God lives with his people (Genesis). Resurrection, judgment and the new creation, in the doctrine course, says more of this hope.

Reading it

An old coloured map of the mountains and plains of Asia Minor between the Black Sea and the Mediterranean, with cities such as Ephesus, Smyrna and Pergamum named along its western coast. — George Adam Smith, Asia Minor, Showing the Positions of the Seven Churches, 1915 · Source

Two or three chapters a day take about ten days; begin with Revelation 1. "Blessed is the one who reads aloud the words of this prophecy" (Revelation 1:3), so read it aloud, as the first churches heard it. Do not try to decode every picture or to calculate dates; when you lose your way, return to the throne and the Lamb of chapters 4 and 5. Matthew Henry says its very mysteries are "suited to impress the mind with awe, and to purify the soul of the reader, though he may not discern the prophetic meaning" Matthew Henry.

The course ends, as the Bible does, with the Lord's promise and the church's answer:

He who testifies to these things says, “Yes, I am coming soon.” Amen. Come, Lord Jesus!
Revelation 22:20

As the first lesson said: take up and read.

Practice

Practice 1 of 6
What kind of writing is Revelation?
Practice 2 of 6
When the elder said that the Lion of the tribe of Judah had triumphed, what did John see?
Practice 3 of 6
Which way of reading Revelation is paired with its description?
Practice 4 of 6
Which of these describes a view of the millennium rightly?
Practice 5 of 6
In the new Jerusalem of Revelation 22, what recalls the garden of Genesis?
Practice 6 of 6
What is true of Revelation's author and date?

Reading to the end marks it read; tap to switch it.

Source

Justin Martyr, Dialogue with Trypho — c. 160. A dialogue with Trypho, a Jew, over the Scriptures they share, arguing that Jesus is the Christ the prophets foretold. Expects a thousand years in a rebuilt Jerusalem, while granting that many Christians of pure and pious faith think otherwise (ch. 80); says John, one of Christ's apostles, foretold it in a revelation made to him (ch. 81).
Irenaeus of Lyons, Against Heresies — c. 180. Defends the Creator and the incarnation against the Gnostics; Christ sums up and renews humanity (recapitulation). Book 5 looks for the reign of the righteous in a renewed creation. Read

Lessons from the Bible, the church's creeds and classic commentary. Each book's author and date are given as the church has received them, and scholars who see them otherwise are presented fairly. Scripture quotations: BSB.