Background of Revelation

Before we can dive into the text of Revelation, it is also important to establish the background context of Revelation. As part of the grammatical-historical method of interpretation, the student of the Word ought to do their best to consider the historical context of the immediate audience of the letter. Therefore, let us take a look at some of the important background information that is needed in order to understand the intended purpose and meaning of the book of Revelation.

The Biblical Context

First and foremost, let us consider what the Scriptures inform us regarding the biblical-theological and redemptive-historical context of Revelation. As we will see later on in Revelation, John stands in the line of OT prophets who bring a message of judgment to a particular people. The OT prophets generally brought a message of condemnation and a call to repentance to the nation of Israel, God’s chosen people in the old covenant. The reason for this constant sending of prophets to Israel was due to Israel’s repetitive disobedience to God and their adulterous and idolatrous actions in going after other gods. Numerous times in the OT, the prophets of God denounces Israel as a whore, a harlot, and a prostitute. A good number of times God judges Israel and sends plagues and disasters upon the people, even sending them into exile as a result of their adultery, since God was Israel’s husband.

However, God was merciful to Israel and did not completely destroy them because of His promises to bring about the Messiah from the line of David, so that the new covenant in Christ would be established in accordance with His Word.

But what would happen when the Son came to Israel?

We see in the NT that the Jews, God’s chosen people in the old covenant, rejected their Christ, and even went so far as to put Jesus to death by means of the Romans. Furthermore, even after Jesus died and rose again, the Jews continued to reject the message of the Gospel, and even started to persecute the followers of Jesus, that is, the apostles and those who placed their faith in Jesus as a result of their evangelism. This persecution involved excommunication from the synagogue system, which effectively cast Jewish Christians out of their corresponding societies. The Jews sought out how to put Christians to death, even resorting to manipulating the Romans to persecute Christians for them through means of false accusations and slander.

Over and over again in the NT letters, we see that the primary enemy of the Christian church was the Jews. We see the Jews constantly going after the Christians in the book of Acts. We see the persistent efforts from the Judaizers to cause Jewish Christians to return to the old covenant temple system in the book of Galatians and elsewhere. We see the author of Hebrews putting forth a theological apologetic treatise against the Jews, demonstrating the supremacy of Christ and the new covenant over against the old covenant, which is about to disappear. The NT constantly warns Jewish Christians not to be tempted to go back to the old covenant temple system, because that is the biggest temptation to them at that time, in particular due to the persecution instigated by the Jews.

In light of the above, it is fitting that the book of Revelation appears to be dealing with a crucial question for the Christian church: now that the new covenant established in Christ is here, what is to be come of the old covenant temple system? The temple was still standing; should it still continue to function as the house of God where God’s people come to worship? Sacrifices were still taking place; should Jewish Christians continue to offer sacrifices in light of the once-for-all sacrifice of Christ? Jesus Himself prophesied that the temple would be destroyed, and that the generation of apostles would still be alive when the temple was brought down and the Son of Man would come in the clouds with power. In fact, Jesus even told the Jews who persecuted Him that they would see the Son of Man coming in the clouds with power. Did He come? If He did, when did He come and what did He do?

Revelation is the answer to all these questions. Revelation shows John’s immediate audience, Jewish Christians who were being persecuted by the Jews, that God is about to deal with His old covenant people, His old adulterous wife. He is about to cast her out, about to judge her for her adultery, about to vindicate His new Bride, the true Israel, and demonstrate that the old covenant temple system will be no more. The new covenant is here and the true Israel is revealed, and she will be the Bride of Christ forevermore. There will be no more need of a physical temple, for God and the Lamb will be the temple for the true Israel.

This background is foundational in understanding the book of Revelation. For the readers who might not be convinced at this time, continue reading on in this blog and I will attempt to demonstrate that the book of Revelation lends support to this proposed biblical-historical background context.

Historical Context

Just a brief note regarding the plausible historical context for the book of Revelation. If readers accept the AD 60s dating of Revelation, then Revelation was written during the reign of Nero (there is some hints in the book of Revelation that points to this historical fact). Furthermore, as noted above, the temple in Jerusalem would still be standing and the Jewish War would start in AD 66. Some object to this historical context for various reasons, but it seems to me that there are just too many clues within the book of Revelation that lends support to this particular time period. Furthermore, I would direct readers to the account of the Jewish War (Josephus) and see for themselves how the numerous events described in Revelation find their immediate historical fulfillment in the events that took place during the Jewish War (taking into account the historical-figurative language of Revelation). The consistency between the Jewish War events and the Revelation events is too much of a coincidence to overlook. It seems unfortunate to me that a good number of Revelation commentators do not consider this possibility because of their presupposition (or at least their conclusion) that Revelation was written after the destruction of Jerusalem in AD 70, thus forcing them to allegorize or spiritualize most of the events described in Revelation. It seems to me that this weakens the immediate application(s) of Revelation to John’s immediate audience who would be reading and hearing the content of Revelation that was written for a historical purpose that would benefit them during their time of persecution and hardship.

If readers are persuaded of an AD 90s dating of Revelation, then it seems that there would be no immediate future fulfillment of the events in Revelation to John’s immediate audience. As such, these readers would be forced to either interpret the events in Revelation as being perpetually ongoing until the final coming of Christ, or push them way into the future as only taking place when Christ is about to return. In these scenarios, it would appear that John’s immediate audience has disappeared from view and from consideration in one’s interpretation of Revelation. Rather than considering how John’s immediate audience would have understood Revelation, the reader is somewhat forced to interpret Revelation through the eyes of the modern church rather than taking into account John’s immediate audience and their context.

Furthermore, it is debated whether there was actual legal persecution from the Romans against Christians during the time of Domitian (if one takes the AD 90s dating of Revelation). We know that the Jews and the Romans (though instigated by the Jews) persecuted the Christians during the AD 60s and the time prior to that time period. Therefore, even from a historical perspective, it seems that the earlier time period in the AD 60s suits the historical background of Revelation better than the later period.

Role of the Temple

It is also difficult for the modern church to imagine and understand the crucial role of the temple in Judaism. As we can see in the NT accounts, one of the accusations brought against Jesus, apostles, and the first Christian converts. In fact, it seems that this was the primary reason Christians were persecuted, because the Jews thought that Christians were preaching against the temple! The Jewish crowds were riled up when their leaders accused Jesus and His followers of wanting to tear down the temple, or preaching against the temple as the house of God. Jesus was crucified; Stephen was killed; and Paul was arrested.

We fail to imagine just how important the temple was to Judaism since we do not have something equivalent that we hold dear in our lives. For the Jews, the temple was one of the core pillars of their religion and their lives. Jews would travel from far and wide to the temple to take part in the Jewish festivals. The temple was considered to house the presence of God. Jews were taught that as long as the lamp in the temple remained lit, God’s blessing would be upon them. In fact, the Herodian temple in Jerusalem was so grand, beautiful, and luxurious that even Gentiles came to Jerusalem to take in the sight of the temple.

In light of the above, modern Christians need to step into the shoes of the first Jewish Christians (and even the Jews) in order to feel the epoch-changing impact of the destruction of the temple. It literally changes how Jews practiced their religion. Judaism post-AD 70 transformed from biblical, temple-based Judaism to oral, Talmudic Judaism. The Jews could no longer travel to a temple to offer sacrifices. In fact, a good chunk of God’s Law that related to the temple, or depended upon the existence of a temple, was no longer practicable. Furthermore, once the temple was torn down for good, this effectively removed the immense temptation for Jewish Christians to return to their old manner of life. As a reminder, the first Christians were tempted over and over again to stop following Jesus and to return to Judaism. The call to endure and to persevere in following Jesus spans the pages of the NT. The writers of the NT put in so much effort to make it clear that the new covenant has been established in Christ and that there is nothing to go back to. If indeed someone decides to return to the old covenant temple system, the book of Hebrews emphatically states that there is greater condemnation on such an individual.

Therefore, the first and greatest enemy of the early church was the Jews, and the greatest temptation that the first Jewish Christians were faced with was whether or not to return to the old covenant temple system. We see hints and clues supporting this background all throughout Revelation. In fact, as we shall see in the next post, there are numerous indicators in Revelation that act as references to Israel, Jerusalem, the high priest, the Land, and the temple. In fact, commentators agree that Revelation is the most Jewish document because it has the highest number of OT allusions in the entire Bible. Furthermore, the Hebraicized Greek in Revelation lends further support to the fact that John appears to be targeting a Jewish Christian audience, but also making reference to their great enemy, the Jews.

When readers take the biblical-theological and redemptive-historical contexts into consideration, the book of Revelation becomes a lot clearer: it is a polemic against OT Judaism, an apologetic defending the NT Christian faith, and a warning to Jewish Christians not to return to Judaism in light of the coming judgment of God upon adulterous Israel for crucifying their Messiah. The old covenant has indeed disappeared, as per the author of Hebrews, and the new covenant is all that remains, and the growth of the kingdom as a result of the new covenant blessings will increase as the nations progressively enter into the New Jerusalem through its open gates.

Soli Deo gloria!