This is a book that I generally try to avoid. No fault of the book, but rather, coming from a fundamentalist background that viewed this book as a play-by-play description of the end times, it forever soured me on this book. That said, when understood as it is meant to be understood, it is a book of spectacular beauty and hope.
A key point to remember about the Book of Revelation is that it is meant to heard and performed as a drama. It really cannot be appreciated outside the context of liturgy. If you read it with an eye towards performance, you can really get a sense that it lends itself better to that than to just reading it.
Genre: Apocalyptic
Apokálypsis in the Greek means laying bare; disclosure of truth; manifestation, appearance, revealing. Apocalyptic literature foretells cataclysmic events that will transpire at the end of the world. It takes narrative form, employs esoteric language along with spectacular visions, expresses a pessimistic view of the present, and treats the final events as imminent.
Most scholars regard early Christianity as a fervently apocalyptic religion, intent on the imminent “Second Coming” of Christ to preside over the Last Judgment and the end of the world. This genre flourished in the first century BC to the first century AD. It was especially popular in times of catastrophe or persecution, which fit the developing Christianity of that time.
The genre virtually disappeared after the Middle Ages, but it continues to be popular among fringe groups of disenfranchised people. Some Protestant denominations in the United States propound apocalyptic beliefs, and preachers like Billy Graham and Jerry Falwell were apocalyptic preachers. Also apocalyptic are books like The Left Behind series and Hal Lindsey’s The Late Great Planet Earth. The genre comes in handy when the values and structures of a society lose all meaning for some minority group, and are being replaced by new meanings and systems.
If I wanted to write this genre today, I might tell a story about two figures – Churchill and Hitler. I would tell it in the form of a vision being granted to me by an angel or heavenly being. I would describe an epic battle between the armies of these two men, resulting in the ultimate victory on the side of good. And I would write it as though it were the early days of the conflict. So it might appear as though I am trying to foretell the future.
Noted Bible scholar Raymond Brown says, “the book is wildly popular for all the wrong reasons.”
Date
Around 95 AD. Most scholars put the book being written at the end of a period of intense persecution of Christians under the emperor Domitian who died in 96 AD.
Purpose
The book was written in the midst of an outburst of hostility towards Christians. The author writes as though he assumes this time of tribulation is a prelude to the Last Days. Every crisis in the church since then has been interpreted that way to some degree.
The basic message of the book is one of no compromise! The audience is exhorted to hold up under persecution. Persist to the end and you will win the crown. This is the epic battle between good and evil, and we are assured that good will prevail.
Structure
Chapters 1-8 are a sealing of the faithful, and this takes place on earth.
Chps 4-8 are visions of scrolls with seven seals. As the seals are broken, the scrolls are read. All of chp 7 is an insert or parenthesis to this bigger vision and it deals with the ultimate salvation of the righteous.
Chps 9-17 are a song of victory, taking place in heaven
It’s almost as those these two scenes – one on earth and one in heaven – are happening parallel, at the same time. It is intended to really give us that feeling of “now but not yet,” which is a hallmark of eschatology. The end is coming, and it’s sort of here but not yet.
We can also see it as: in the very midst of her tribulations on earth, the church already sings the songs of victory in her liturgy.