Book of Revelation

The Book of Revelation, also known as the Book of the Apocalypse or the Apocalypse of John, is canonically the last book of the New Testament. Written in Greek, its title is derived from the first word of the text, apocalypse, which means "revelation" or "unveiling". The Book of Revelation is the only apocalyptic book in the New Testament canon, and occupies a central place in Christian eschatology.
The book spans three literary genres: the epistolary, the apocalyptic, and the prophetic. It begins with John, on the island of Patmos in the Aegean Sea, addressing letters to the "Seven Churches of Asia" with exhortations from Christ. He then describes a series of prophetic and symbolic visions, which would culminate in the Second Coming of Jesus Christ. These visions include figures such as a woman clothed with the sun with the moon under her feet and a crown of twelve stars, the Serpent, the Seven-Headed Dragon, and the Beast.
The author names himself as simply "John" in the text, but his precise identity remains a point of academic debate. The sometimes obscure and extravagant imagery of Revelation, with many allusions and numeric symbolism derived from the Old Testament, has allowed a wide variety of Christian interpretations throughout the history of Christianity.
Modern biblical scholarship views Revelation as a first-century apocalyptic message warning early Christian communities not to assimilate into Roman imperial culture, interpreting its vivid symbolism through historical, literary, and cultural lenses.

Composition and setting

Title, authorship, and date

The book's most common English name is " Revelation". It is also called " the Apocalypse", "Revelation to John", or "Apocalypse of St. John". Abbreviations of these are "Rev.", "Rv", or "Apoc." These names are derived from the incipit to the text :
"Revelation" and "Apocalypse" are respectively a translation and an anglicisation of the original Koinē Greek word ἀποκάλυψις, which can also mean "unveiling". In the original Greek, the word is singular, so the name "Revelations" sometimes found in English is often considered erroneous.
The author names himself as simply "John" in the text, and states in that he is on the island of Patmos, and so he is conventionally called "John of Patmos". He was a Jewish–Christian prophet, probably belonging to a group of such prophets, and was accepted by the congregations to whom he addressed his letter. The New Testament canon has four other "Johannine works" ascribed to authors named John, and a tradition dating from Irenaeus identifies John the Apostle as the author of all five. The modern academic consensus is that a Johannine community produced the Gospel of John and the three Johannine epistles, while John of Patmos wrote the Book of Revelation separately.
The Book of Revelation is commonly dated to about 95 AD, as suggested by clues in the visions pointing to the reign of the Roman Emperor Domitian, The Beast with seven heads and the number 666 seem to allude directly to the Emperor Nero, but this does not imply that the book was written in the 60s, as there was a widespread belief in later decades that Nero would return.

Genre

The Book of Revelation is an apocalyptic prophecy, with an epistolary introduction addressed to the "Seven Churches" of Asia Minor. The seven cities where these churches were located are close together, and the island of Patmos is near the western coast of the Anatolian Peninsula. The first word of the text, apocalypse, which means "revelation" or "unveiling", refers to the revealing of divine mysteries; John is to write down what is revealed and send it to the seven churches. The entire book constitutes the prophecy—the letters to the seven individual churches are introductions to the rest of the book, which is addressed to all seven. While the dominant genre is apocalyptic, the author sees himself as a Christian prophet: Revelation uses the word in various forms 21 times, more than any other New Testament book.

Setting

Modern understanding has been that the Book of Revelation was written to comfort beleaguered Christians as they underwent religious persecution at the hands of a Roman Emperor. This is not the only interpretation, however; Domitian may not have been a cruel despot imposing the Roman imperial cult upon his subjects, and there may not have been any systematic empire-wide persecution of Christians in his time. Revelation may instead have been composed in the context of an existential conflict within the early Christian communities of Asia Minor over whether to engage with, or withdraw from, the far larger non-Christian world. Mark B. Stephens argues that the Book of Revelation chastised those Christians who wanted to reach an accommodation with the Roman State. This is not to say that Christians in Asia Minor were not suffering due to withdrawal from and defiance of the wider Roman society, which imposed very real penalties; Revelation offered a victory over this reality by offering an apocalyptic hope. In the words of professor Adela Yarbro Collins, "What ought to be was experienced as a present reality."

Canonical history

Revelation was among the last books accepted into the Christian biblical canon, and to the present day some churches that derive from the Church of the East reject it. Eastern Christians became skeptical of the book as doubts concerning its authorship and unusual style were reinforced by aversion to its acceptance by Montanists and other groups considered to be heretical. This distrust of the Book of Revelation persisted in the Christian East for a long time, through the 15th century.
Dionysius, bishop of Alexandria and disciple of Origen, wrote that the Book of Revelation could have been written by Cerinthus, although he himself did not adopt the view that Cerinthus was its writer. He regarded the Apocalypse as the work of an inspired Christian, but not of John the Apostle. Similarly, Eusebius of Caesarea in his Church History argues that the Book of Revelation was accepted as a canonical book by some early Church Fathers and rejected as spurious by others at the same time.
The Book of Revelation is counted as both accepted and disputed, which has caused some confusion over what exactly Eusebius meant by doing so. The disputation can perhaps be attributed to Origen, who seems to have accepted it in his writings. Cyril of Jerusalem does not name it among the canonical books. Athanasius of Alexandria in his Letter 39, Augustine of Hippo in his book On Christian Doctrine, Tyrannius Rufinus in his Commentary on the Apostles' Creed, Pope Innocent I in a letter to the bishop of Toulouse, and John of Damascus in his work An Exposition of the Orthodox Faith listed "the Revelation of John the Evangelist" as a canonical book.

Synods

The Council of Laodicea omitted it as a canonical book.
The Latin text Decretum Gelasianum, written by an anonymous scholar between 519 and 553, contains a list of books of scripture presented as having been reckoned as canonical by the Council of Rome. This list mentions it as a part of the New Testament canon.
The Synod of Hippo, followed by the First Council of Carthage, the Second Council of Carthage, the Council of Florence, and the Council of Trent, classified it as a canonical book.
The Apostolic Canons, approved by the Eastern Orthodox Council in Trullo in 692, but rejected by Pope Sergius I, omit it.

Protestant Reformation

and doubts on the biblical canon resurfaced among Renaissance scholars and Christian theologians during the 16th-century Protestant Reformation. Former Augustinian friar and German reformer Martin Luther called Revelation "neither apostolic nor prophetic" in the 1522 preface to his translation of the New Testament ; Swiss reformer Huldrych Zwingli labelled it "not a book of the Bible", and it was the only New Testament book on which John Calvin did not write a commentary. Revelation remains the only New Testament book not read in the Divine Liturgy of the Eastern Orthodox Church, although Roman Catholic and Protestant liturgies include it.

Texts and manuscripts

There are fewer manuscripts of the Book of Revelation than of any other text of the New Testament. As of 2020, in total, there are 310 manuscripts of Revelation. This number includes 7 papyri, 12 majuscules, and 291 minuscules. But, in fact, not all of them are available for research. Some of them have been burned, vanished, or been categorized wrongly. While it is not extant in the Codex Vaticanus, it is extant in the other great uncial codices: the Codex Sinaiticus, the Codex Alexandrinus, and the Codex Ephraemi Rescriptus. In addition, there are numerous papyri, especially and ; minuscules ; and fragmentary quotations in the Church fathers of the 2nd to 5th centuries and the 6th-century Greek commentary on Revelation by Andreas.

Structure and content

Literary structure

Divisions in the book seem to be marked by the repetition of key phrases, by the arrangement of subject matter into blocks, and associated with its Christological passages, such as invocations of seven. Nevertheless, there is a "complete lack of consensus" among scholars about the structure of Revelation. The following is therefore an outline of the book's contents rather than of its structure.

Symbolism

Much use is made of significant numbers, especially the number seven, which represented perfection according to ancient numerology.

Outline

Outline of the book of Revelation:

The Revelation of Jesus Christ
#The Revelation of Jesus Christ is communicated to John through prophetic visions.
#John is instructed by the "one like a son of man" to write all that he hears and sees, from the prophetic visions, to the Seven Churches of Asia.
#The appearance of the "one like a son of man" is given, his hair is white like fine wool and snow, his feet like bronze, and he reveals what the seven stars and seven lampstands represent.
File:Seven churches of asia.svg|thumb|right|upright=0.7|The map of West Anatolia showing the island of Patmos and the location of the seven churches mentioned in the Book of RevelationMessages for seven churches of Asia. These take the literary form of Persian ruler letters: purported royal decrees inscribed at major pagan temples to establish their ancient bona fides by demonstrating royal management: this still-contemporary form typically had sentences of proclamation, knowledge, praise, admonition, and judgment.
#Ephesus: From this church, he "who overcomes is granted to eat from the tree of life, which is in the midst of the Paradise of God."
#* Praised for not bearing those who are evil, testing those who say they are apostles and are not, and finding them to be liars; hating the deeds of the Nicolaitans; having persevered and possessing patience.
#* Admonished to "do the first works" and to repent for having left their "first love."
#Smyrna : From this church, those who are faithful until death, will be given "the crown of life." He who overcomes shall not be hurt by the second death.
#* Praised for being "rich" while impoverished and in tribulation.
#* Admonished not to fear the "synagogue of Satan", nor fear a ten-day tribulation of being thrown into prison.
#Pergamum: From this church, he who overcomes will be given the hidden manna to eat and a white stone with a secret name on it."
#* Praised for holding "fast to My name", not denying "My faith" even in the days of Antipas, "My faithful martyr."
#* Admonished to repent for having held the doctrine of Balaam, who taught Balak to put a stumbling block before the children of Israel; eating things sacrificed to idols, committing sexual immorality, and holding the "doctrine of the Nicolaitans."
# Thyatira: From this church, he who overcomes until the end, will be given power over the nations in order to dash them to pieces with a rod of iron; he will also be given the "morning star."
#* Praised for their works, love, service, faith, and patience.
#* Admonished to repent for allowing a "prophetess" to promote sexual immorality and to eat things sacrificed to idols.
#Sardis: From this church, he who overcomes will be clothed in white garments, and his name will not be blotted out from the Book of Life; his name will also be confessed before the Father and his angels.
#*Admonished to be watchful and to strengthen since their works have not been perfect before God.
#Philadelphia : From this church, he who overcomes will be made a pillar in the temple of God having the name of God, the name of the city of God, "New Jerusalem", and the Son of God's new name.
#* Praised for having some strength, keeping "My word", and having not denied "My name."
#* Reminded to hold fast what they have, that no one may take their crown.
#Laodicea: From this church, he who overcomes will be granted the opportunity to sit with the Son of God on his throne.
#* Admonished to be zealous and repent from being "lukewarm"; they are instructed to buy the "gold refined in the fire", that they may be rich; to buy "white garments", that they may be clothed, so that the shame of their nakedness would not be revealed; to anoint their eyes with eye salve, that they may see.
Before the Throne of God
# The Throne of God appears, surrounded by twenty-four thrones with twenty-four elders seated in them.
# The four living creatures are introduced.
# A scroll, with seven seals, is presented and it is declared that the Lion of the tribe of Judah, from the "Root of David", is the only one worthy to open this scroll.
# When the "Lamb having seven horns and seven eyes" took the scroll, the creatures of heaven fell down before the Lamb to give him praise, joined by myriads of angels and the creatures of the earth.
Seven Seals are opened
#First Seal: A white horse appears, whose crowned rider has a bow with which to conquer.
#Second Seal: A red horse appears, whose rider is granted a "great sword" to take peace from the earth.
#Third Seal: A black horse appears, whose rider has "a pair of balances in his hand", where a voice then says, "A measure of wheat for a penny, and three measures of barley for a penny; and thou hurt not the oil and the wine."
#Fourth Seal: A pale horse appears, whose rider is Death, and Hades follows him. Death is granted a fourth part of the earth, to kill with sword, with hunger, with death, and with the beasts of the earth.
#Fifth Seal: "Under the altar", appeared the souls of martyrs for the "word of God", who cry out for vengeance. They are given white robes and told to rest until the martyrdom of their brothers is completed.
#Sixth Seal:
## There occurs a great earthquake where "the sun becomes black as sackcloth of hair, and the moon like blood".
## The stars of heaven fall to the earth and the sky recedes like a scroll being rolled up.
## Every mountain and island is moved out of place.
## The people of earth retreat to caves in the mountains.
## The survivors call upon the mountains and the rocks to fall on them, so as to hide them from the "wrath of the Lamb".
#Interlude: The 144,000 Hebrews are sealed.
##144,000 from the Twelve Tribes of Israel are sealed as servants of God on their foreheads
##A great multitude stand before the Throne of God, who come out of the Great Tribulation, clothed with robes made "white in the blood of the Lamb" and having palm branches in their hands.
#Seventh Seal: Introduces the seven trumpets
##"Silence in heaven for about half an hour".
##Seven angels are each given trumpets.
##An eighth angel takes a "golden censer", filled with fire from the heavenly altar, and throws it to the earth. What follows are "peals of thunder, rumblings, flashes of lightning, and an earthquake".
##After the eighth angel has devastated the earth, the seven angels introduced in verse 2 prepare to sound their trumpets.
Seven trumpets are sounded.
#First Trumpet: Hail and fire, mingled with blood, are thrown to the earth burning up a third of the trees and green grass.
#Second Trumpet: Something that resembles a great mountain, burning with fire, falls from the sky and lands in the ocean. It kills a third of the sea creatures and destroys a third of the ships at sea.
#Third Trumpet: A great star, named Wormwood, falls from heaven and poisons a third of the rivers and springs of water.
#Fourth Trumpet: A third of the sun, the moon, and the stars are darkened creating complete darkness for a third of the day and the night.
#Fifth Trumpet: The First Woe
## A "star" falls from the sky.
## This "star" is given "the key to the bottomless pit".
## The "star" then opens the bottomless pit. When this happens, "smoke from like smoke from a gigantic furnace. The sun and sky darkened by the smoke from the Abyss".
## From out of the smoke, locusts who are "given power like that of scorpions of the earth", who are commanded not to harm anyone or anything except for people who were not given the "seal of God" on their foreheads .
## The "locusts" are described as having a human appearance but with lion's teeth, and wearing "breastplates of iron"; the sound of their wings resembles "the thundering of many horses and chariots rushing into battle".
#Sixth Trumpet: The Second Woe
##The four angels bound to the great river Euphrates are released to prepare two hundred million horsemen.
## These armies kill a third of mankind by plagues of fire, smoke, and brimstone.
# Interlude: The little scroll.
##An angel appears, with one foot on the sea and one foot on the land, having an opened little book in his hand.
##Upon the cry of the angel, seven thunders utter mysteries and secrets that are not to be written down by John.
##John is instructed to eat the little scroll that happens to be sweet in his mouth, but bitter in his stomach, and to prophesy.
##John is given a measuring rod to measure the temple of God, the altar, and those who worship there.
##Outside the temple, at the court of the holy city, it is trod by the nations for forty-two months.
##Two witnesses prophesy for 1,260 days, clothed in sackcloth.
#Seventh Trumpet: The Third Woe that leads into the seven bowls
##The temple of God opens in heaven, where the ark of his covenant can be seen. There are lightnings, noises, thunderings, an earthquake, and great hail.
The Seven Spiritual Figures.
#A Woman "clothed with a white robe, with the sun at her back, with the moon under her feet, and on her head a crown of twelve stars" is in pregnancy with a male child.
#A great Dragon drags a third of the stars of Heaven with his tail, and throws them to the Earth.. The Dragon waits for the birth of the child so he can devour it. However, sometime after the child is born, he is caught up to God's throne while the Woman flees into the wilderness into her place prepared of God that they should feed her there for 1,260 days.. War breaks out in heaven between Michael and the Dragon, identified as that old Serpent, the Devil, or Satan. After a great fight, the Dragon and his angels are cast out of Heaven for good, followed by praises of victory for God's kingdom.. The Dragon engages to persecute the Woman, but she is given aid to evade him. Her evasiveness enrages the Dragon, prompting him to wage war against the rest of her offspring, who keep the commandments of God and have the testimony of Jesus Christ.
#A Beast emerges from the Sea, having one mortally wounded head that is then healed. The people of the world wonder and follow the Beast. The Dragon grants him power and authority for forty-two months.
#The Beast of the Sea blasphemes God's name, wages war against the Saints, and overcomes them.
#Then, a Beast emerges from the Earth having two horns like a lamb, speaking like a dragon. He directs people to make an image of the Beast of the Sea who was wounded yet lives, breathing life into it, and forcing all people to bear "the mark of the Beast". The number of the beast the Bible says is "666". Events leading into the Third Woe:
#The Lamb stands on Mount Zion with the 144,000 "first fruits" who are redeemed from Earth and victorious over the Beast and his mark and image.
##The proclamations of three angels.
##One like the Son of Man reaps the earth.
##A second angel reaps "the vine of the Earth" and throws it into "the great winepress of the wrath of God... and blood came out of the winepress... up to one thousand six hundred stadia."
##The temple of the tabernacle, in Heaven, is opened, beginning the "Seven Bowls" revelation.
##Seven angels are given a golden bowl, from the Four Living Creatures, that contains the seven last plagues bearing the wrath of God.
Seven bowls are poured onto Earth:
#First Bowl: A "foul and malignant sore" afflicts the followers of the Beast.
#Second Bowl: The Sea turns to blood and everything within it dies.
#Third Bowl: All fresh water turns to blood.
#Fourth Bowl: The Sun scorches the Earth with intense heat and even burns some people with fire.
#Fifth Bowl: There is total darkness and great pain in the Beast's kingdom.
#Sixth Bowl: The Great River Euphrates is dried up and preparations are made for the kings of the East and the final battle at Armageddon between the forces of good and evil.
#Seventh Bowl: A great earthquake and heavy hailstorm: "every island fled away and the mountains were not found."
Aftermath: Vision of John given by "an angel who had the seven bowls"
#The great Harlot who sits on a scarlet Beast and by many waters: Babylon the Great. The angel showing John the vision of the Harlot and the scarlet Beast reveals their identities and fates
# New Babylon is destroyed.
#The people of the Earth mourn New Babylon's destruction.
#The permanence of New Babylon's destruction.
The Marriage Supper of the Lamb
#A great multitude praises God.
#The marriage Supper of the Lamb.
The Judgment of the two Beasts, the Dragon, and the Dead
#The Beast and the False Prophet are cast into the Lake of Fire.
# The Dragon is imprisoned in the Bottomless Pit for a thousand years.
#The resurrected martyrs live and reign with Christ for a thousand years.
#After the Thousand Years
##The Dragon is released and goes out to deceive the nations in the four corners of the Earth—Gog and Magog—and gathers them for battle at the holy city. The Dragon makes war against the people of God, but is defeated.
##The Dragon is cast into the Lake of Fire with the Beast and the False Prophet.
##The Last Judgment: the wicked, along with Death and Hades, are cast into the Lake of Fire, which is the second death.
The New Heaven and Earth, and New Jerusalem
#A "new heaven" and "new earth" replace the old heaven and old earth. There is no more suffering or death.
#God comes to dwell with humanity in the New Jerusalem.
#Description of the New Jerusalem.
#The River of Life and the Tree of Life appear for the healing of the nations and peoples. The curse of sin is ended.
Conclusion
#Christ's reassurance that his coming is imminent. Final admonitions.