The Enduring Influence of the Book of Revelation

Among contemporary forms of Christianity oriented around a belief in the (more or less imminent) coming of an end-time for the world, the final book of the New Testament is often thought to contain clues to the historical timing of Jesus' return to humanity. Jesus himself may say elsewhere in the Bible that "about that day or hour no one knows, not even the angels in heaven, nor the Son, but only the Father" (Mark 13:32). But if you believe in a literal second-coming of Christ, attended by a literal Apocalypse, the mystery is when, and how, and Revelation is the closest thing you have to a set of clues.

From another perspective, the greater mystery may be the book itself: Who was its author, John of Patmos? Why did he write it? And why has it been as influential as it has, as recurringly as it has, in the near-2,000 years since?

As Elaine Pagels, Princeton's Harrington Spear Paine Professor of Religion and the author of Revelations: Visions, Prophecy, and Politics in the Book of Revelation, explained at the Aspen Ideas Festival today, John — about whom we know very little — wrote Revelation as a refugee from Rome's war against the partisans of the first century's Great Revolt, after the Empire had exhaustively slaughtered its rebelling Jews. He was among the few devastated by this war who believed that Jesus of Nazareth had been sent into the world by God, and that Jesus would come back to rule the world from Jerusalem as God's messiah. As he made his way to Patmos, a small island in the Aegean Sea, Pagels said, John became absorbed with the seeming failure of early-Christian prophecy of Jesus' return.

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wesley

the book of Revelation is full of imagery of what Plato called the "ideal world" or what we a Christians call the "world to come". it deals with the destruction of old covenant ushering in the new covenant which is found in Jesus Christ. it was written to give assurance to Christians living in the middle of a caesar cult that the persecution they were suffering was not in vain. it shows the building of the Kingdom of God in the first century and God judging the Jews who prostituted themselves to the Roman Emperor who declared himself god.
- Eric
  
  Whaat? You mean it's not about black helicopters, Patriot missiles, and a 200 million-man army from China? You obviously have not studied the Left Behind series closely enough… ;)
  - http://youtu.be/HlD3Gaq4cN0 Despeville
    
    :0
  - wesley
    
    the Left Behind series is sci-fi and not scriptural. where are 200 million horses going to come from for twice as many horses are required than are alive today?
    - Evermyrtle
      
      I did not see Left Behind but I believe that it was only meant to help people understand the WORD OF GOD concerning the end days, I never heard or got the impression that it was factual.
      - Evermyrtle
        
        Extension ti above post. When I think about it , I cannot imagine a fire that will consume everything that is on this earth.
      - bighoss
        
        No. "Left Behind" and all its sequels were written to make money for the authors by playing on the dispensationalist fantasies of deluded folks.
    - bribozo19
      
      They are coming from the East as in the "Kings of the East "(China)back in 1990 they publically claimed to have the ability to field an army of 200,000,000 men for infinity…thats a bold claim, but gee the same exact number as mentioned in Revelation ch 9…Revelation was once thought to be imagery by those Christian "scholars" who did not understand it , nor could their minds wrap around the enormity of it. Without a doubt this generation will see the return of Christ, then we can discuss "Imagery"
      - Evermyrtle
        
        I think you are absolutely right. I am looking forward to that great day, when JESUS CHRIST come back for HIS OWN.
      - http://youtu.be/HlD3Gaq4cN0 Despeville
        
        Your Mormon "Jesus" ain't coming back for he never existed in the first place…
      - bighoss
        
        "Without a doubt," you say, Jesus will return in this generation. How presumptuous, BOZO! You and your bogus prophetic ilk, all across the centuries, have made such predictions and they have repeatedly failed. What makes you think you are any better at end time apocalyptic forecasting than they were?
    - Eric
      
      "where are 200 million horses going to come from"
      
      God will make them in Jerusalem after the rapture and have them gallop east… I'm pretty sure it says that in the Bible somewhere. ;)
      - http://youtu.be/HlD3Gaq4cN0 Despeville
        
        :):) Is that how muhammad got his horse he flew off the Jerusalem to Mecca?
      - Eric
        
        LOL. I guess only 199,999,999 will make it to China. :)
      - http://youtu.be/HlD3Gaq4cN0 Despeville
        
        Yep, one down 199,999,999 to go…. :) :) :)
      - Evermyrtle
        
        You limit GOD!! He created the entire universe and everything in it. There is nothing here that HE did not create, certainly HE can supply what it takes to fulfill HIS WORD.
      - http://youtu.be/HlD3Gaq4cN0 Despeville
        
        He does? How by not following you into a rabbit hole?
      - Eric
        
        I limit God? And yet you are the one who claims that you can't "imagine a fire that will consume everything that is on this earth." The good news is that you don't need to. God will no more burn the entire earth than he will send 200 million horses and riders west out of China.
      - http://youtu.be/HlD3Gaq4cN0 Despeville
        
        Remember you are talking to a clandestine Mormon parading as a "Christian"
      - http://conservativebyte.com Michael G.
        
        The 200 million horsemen may be a metaphor referring to a number too large to count. Take a look at "Horse" in Vine's Dictionary.
  - Patrick
    
    When I saw the "Left Behind" series I decided to do just that; leave it behind.
    
    Dispensationalism is a very sadly mistaken approach to understanding the continuity of scripture. But boy are some guys making some good scratch peddling it.
    
    I agree with wesley's statement. Captured it well.
- Gina
  
  Funny that the beginning reveals the end, that'd be Genesis. It's all there but the destruction of the old covenant, hardly. Yeshua kept Torah, quoted the prophets and taught the proper way to keep the law. Some laws disappeared with the Priesthood, some went with the temple and some went away with the bet diem court. It was written for the last days. You need help in understanding the book. I'd suggest a messianic congregation and getting filled with the spirit where the law is written on your heart and not on the stone.
Evermyrtle

JESUS did say, that no man not even the SON OF MAN will know the day that HE would return but HE added many circumstances that would occur in the last days, that would let HIS people know that the time was "at the very doors."
Some of these scriptures can be found in Matt. 24, Mark 13, Luke 17 and 21 and II Tim.3: 1-7. I do wonder why this information was not acknowledged in the article written above.

There are those who are trying to do away with Revelation.

Rev. 18:-20

18. For I testify unto every man that hears the words of the prophecy of this book, If any man shall add unto these things, GOD shall add unto him the plagues that are written in this book:
19. And if any man shall take away from the words of the book of this prophecy, GOD shall take away his part out of the book of life, and out of the holy city, and from the things which are written n this book
20. HE which testifies these thing said, SURELY I COME QUICKLY, AMEN, EVEN SO COME LORD JESUS
- http://youtu.be/HlD3Gaq4cN0 Despeville
  
  "…If any man shall add unto these things, GOD shall add unto him the plagues that are written in this book."
  
  Seems to me that this is precisely what you are doing…
  - Evermyrtle
    
    In which one of these scriptures are you find fault?? Tell me and I will make my own judgment.
    - http://youtu.be/HlD3Gaq4cN0 Despeville
      
      Nice canard. There is no fault in the Scriptures at all. There is all kind of fault in what you do with them for the sake of your sensationalism.
      - Evermyrtle
        
        Don't judge everyone else by your self..
      - http://youtu.be/HlD3Gaq4cN0 Despeville
        
        Nope Mormon sympathizer. I judge myself and everyone else according to the Word of God which you deny so many times by your phantasmagorical imaginations.
      - http://rationalresponses.blogspot.com/ Jeff Dixon
        
        Humpty, you know you start judging more harshly after downing a few bottles of your favorite Canard wine.
      - http://youtu.be/HlD3Gaq4cN0 Despeville
        
        Dodo, I don't drink the junk you have found on internet and wine is to be enjoyed in glasses and by glasses and not by bottles contrary to the red necks who influenced you.
- wesley
  
  Jesus was talking about the last days of the old covenant there in Matthew 24, Mark 13, and there in Luke. Paul is telling Timothy there in II Timothy 3 that people would rather hear things that make them feel good instead of the truth. if you would finishing reading that chapter Paul tells Timothy that these people are foolish and that their folly will be evident to all. this can include those who are looking for Christ's return and wanting to do nothing while waiting for him to call them home. the early christians could have never imagined that their hard work would allow them to take over the Roman Empire in just three centuries and now many christians are handing the world over to satan in less time with no resistance. moral hard work pays off while idleness leads to destruction. i would rather be the servant who hears "well done my good and faithful servant" than be the one who is thrown out into the utter darkness.
  - Evermyrtle
    
    Well, I can believe ministers with live long studies of GODS WORD or you, who likely have done less study than I have in my 67 years of study. god GIVES ME THAT RIGHT!!
    - http://youtu.be/HlD3Gaq4cN0 Despeville
      
      Obviously you wasted a lot of time then…
msjallen

Whenever something is figurative in the book of Revelation it will be indicated by the context, otherwise it is literal. The book begins with the rapture of the Church and ends with Christ’s kingdom being established on earth. The book of Revelation can be understood if one uses OT scripture to explain things mainly in the book of Daniel. Jesus Christ is the God-Man and He is the subject of this book.
keyboardshark

Revelation is one of the most widely misunderstood Books of the Bible. If you try to understand everything in Revelation literally, you'll come up with all kinds of strange ideas. Just remember that Revelation, in general, does not teach anything new that is not taught elsewhere in the Bible. It uses imagery and figurative language to give us additional insights into those doctrines.
red nig

We call it the Great Cleansing. A lot of prophecy has been spoken about it for the last century+. The Aztec thought Cortez was the beginning of it and for them, he was. For mine, it was William Penn landing and most of us became Christians within a generation. One sign is growing secular humanism. That Satan rules them is obvious, why else would so many dedicate their lives to fools? They attach themselves to evil and call it good, call lies the truth, and destroy any who try to reason with them. Whether you think the locust in the Book are impossible, or helicopters, or something out of a genetics lab, be patient, all is reveled in time :)

As for the rest, things like that have happened before. The world was born in fire and ice, and will be reborn after the destruction of the vile people.

Walk in beauty, you who love God.
- bighoss
  
  I'm pretty sure that those locusts are black helicopters, since there are so many reports about that kind of aircraft and so many folks who take such reports seriously.
  
  I have personally seen several dozen unmarked black helicopters! Yes, this is true! I saw them sitting on the ground in Mississippi, plainly visible from Interstate Highway 55. They were at an Air National Guard base. Yes, beloved, our own military is operating those nefarious black helicopters. There is no safety anywhere!! Doom is near; get ready.
  - http://youtu.be/HlD3Gaq4cN0 Despeville
    
    Yes, as the Mayans "prophecy" :) states clearly.
    Hoss, get ready for next nonsense, the book called "The Harbinger" currently making initial rounds in the land of leavenjellycalism.
- Eric
  
  "The world was born in fire and ice"
  
  and the Green Lanterns protect it all…
Winston

It shouldn't be such a surprise regarding "The Enduring Influence of the Book of Revelation" because it states it in Revelation 1:3 "Blessed is he that readeth, and they that hear the words of this prophecy, and keep those things which are written therein: for the time is at hand." Oh, how many church pastors and elders fail to even approach teaching the Biblical prophecies…especially The Revelation of Jesus to the Apostle John. They will have an awakening at the Great White Throne of Judgment.
- http://youtu.be/HlD3Gaq4cN0 Despeville
  
  You mean they are lost because they do not hold to certain eschaton?