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| Picture from http://www.stjames-manotick.org/ 2011/11/21/advent/ |
According to Hebrew 9:28, Christ “will appear a second time, not to deal with sin but to save those who are eagerly waiting for him.” At that time he’ll be king over all earth and heaven (Rev. 11:15), will completely destroy the power of death (1 Cor. 15:25, 26), will bring about the resurrection of the dead (1 Thess. 4:16-17) and the final judgment (Rev. 20:11-13). He will come suddenly (Mark 13:36). Some people expect Jesus to return in our lifetime. Others point to the fact that Jesus discouraged speculation about the timetable of his return (Mark 13:32). Paul told people to stay alert (1 Cor. 16:13, 1 Thess. 5:1-11), but also warned that we shouldn’t become idle and neglect our daily responsibilities (2 Thess. 3:6-13).
Whenever Jesus returns----however you fit that expectation into your faith---one thing is for sure: we will all die someday. God will reward us by his free grace, whether we came to faith early or late in life (Matt. 20:1-16). but we do need to be ready (Mark 13:33-37)! We need to commit to the Lord, however small and inadequate our faith-steps may be. Readiness incudes believing in him, following him, trusting his power … and trusting his merciful desire to save us regardless of all our sins and failures!
Here is perhaps an odd pair of books to connect: Deuteronomy and Revelation. Deuteronomy concludes the Torah with a stirring call for Jews to keep faithful to the laws and commandments (reiterated for many chapters) and to remind future generations of God's mighty works of salvation. Meanwhile Revelation concludes the New Testament with arcane and impenetrable symbols that invite all kinds of wheel-spinning speculation about the end times. They seem like such dissimilar books.
And yet Revelation also calls future generations to faithfulness. Revelation proclaims God's mighty work of salvation, too (7:10, 11:15, 19:6), and so, in an analogous way to Deuteronomy, we know that there is no ultimate reason for us to lose heart—or to lose our faithfulness, however meager Although Christ’s coming lies in the future, he has already guaranteed God's victory. Thus we have reasons to stay faithful, with God's help.
The past couple years I’ve been renewing my personal Bible study, especially focusing upon the Old Testament. Many of us Christians aren’t as literate in the Hebrew and Jewish traditions of our faith as we might be, and some Christians I’ve met are largely indifferent to the Old Testament.
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| Francis Danby, Opening of the Sixth Seal," 1828 National Gallery of Ireland, Dublin |
I found an interesting article, “The Old Testament and the Book of Revelation” at the StudyJesus.com site. I liked the article because it gave straightforward biblical references without the speculations and polemics that one finds in some analyses of Revelation. Perusing that article as well as the notes in my study Bibles, I developed a very incomplete list of references to Old Testament passages that one finds in Revelation. These are just my notes from these sources, written down so I can study them more later. That online article gives many more references and other research about John's compelling visions and style of writing.
The image of “the son of man” in Daniel 7:13-14 connects to Rev. 1:7.
The image of “the kingdom of priests” in Exodus 19:6 an Isaiah 61:6 connects to Rev. 1:6.
Ezekiel’s vision of four living creatures and four wheels in chapter 1, and also Isaiah 6:1-4, connect with Revelation chapter 4, wherein the living creatures give God honor and glory.
The dwelling of God in the new heaven and earth in Isaiah 65:17ff connects to Rev 21:1-2. Also,
Michael the archangel (Dan. 12:1) connects to Rev. 12:7-12.
The condemnation of Deuteronomy 29:19-20, with the image of being blotted out of the book of life, connects to Rev. 21:19. In fact, that article indicates: “Revelation 3:5; 13:8; 17:8; 20:12, 15, 21:27 are based on Exodus 32:32-33; Psalm 69:28; Daniel 12:1,” and also Ps. 56:8 and Malachi 3:16. All these have to do with the them of God writing a book containing the names of the faithful.
The differently colored horses of Zechariah 1:7-17 and 6:1-8 connect to Revelation 6:1-8.
The eating of the scroll in Ezekiel 2:8-3:33 and Jeremiah 15:16 connect to Rev. 10:8-11.
Much of Joel 1-2, with its descriptions of plagues, droughts, and the coming day of the Lord, connects to the various events in Revelation: e.g., the locusts in Rev. 9.
Some of Ezekiel’s images of the restored temple in chapters 40-48, as well as Zechariah chapter 4, connect to Rev. 11:1-6 et al. Also, the restored Jerusalem in Ezekiel 48:30-35 connect to Rev. 21:12-14.
Genesis 49 lists the twelve tribes of Israel, in the context of Jacob’s death: Reuben, Simeon, Levi, Judah, Issachar, Zebulun, Gad, Asher, Dan, Naphtali, Joseph, and Benjamin. Jacob adopted Joseph’s two sons, Ephraim and Manasseh, and thus they became heads of tribes. Rev. 7:1-8 describes how angels sealed the number of God’s servants out of “every tribe of the people of Israel,” and then lists the twelve tribes. Instead of the tribe of Dan we have the tribe of Manasseh, and the tribe of Joseph rather than that of Ephraim is mentioned.
The cities of refuge are described in Numbers 35:9-34. They were places where a person who had accidentally killed someone could flee and when the high priest died they could return home without fear of being killed out of revenge. The cities were Kedesh, Golan, Ramoth Shechem, Bezer, and Hebron. Although Rev. 12:6 doesn’t mention “cities of refuge” per se, the concept of a safe place prepared by God is there: for instance, the woman with child (representing God’s people) flees to a safe place in the wilderness where she will be nourished for 1260 days.
Daniel has a vision of four beasts in Dan. 7:1-8, which connects to Rev. 13:1-7, where beasts emerge from the sea. As that article indicates, the fourth beast represents Antiochus IV Epiphanes, the terrible Greek ruler of the Maccabean period.
Ezekiel 38-39 describes the prince Gog of the land of Magog. In Rev. 20:7-10, Gog and Magog become nations who are enemies of God’s people.
The famous story of Balaam and his donkey (Balaam's ass, as we Sunday school kids laughed about) is found in Numbers 25:1-9, as well as 31:16. This story is echoed in Rev. 2: 14 where God scolds the church at Pergamum.
Rev. 14:14-20 tells of the angel reaping a grape harvest with a sickle and putting the harvest into the winepress of God’s wrath, producing copious blood. Of course, this is the reference for a line in “Battle Hymn of the Republic” as well as the title of the novel, The Grapes of Wrath. We find the earlier image in Joel 3:13 and Isaiah 63:1-6.
As that article indicates, Isaiah 65:17, 66:22, refer to the blessings of God upon the exiles who return from captivity in Babylon. These promises connect to a passage near the conclusion of Revelations, 21:1.
The Exile----the 6th century BCE destruction of Jerusalem by the Babylonians and the deportations of Judahites to Babylon----is a very key event in the Bible. Although the Bible isn't exactly “about” the Exile, the Bible is about the history of God’s people on the land in the centuries before the Exile, and then their post-exilic hope in God’s redemption. The exilic experience pervades the Bible in many, perhaps unappreciated ways. The psalms, for instance, which so many of us esteem for our daily faith, deeply reflect the post-exilic hope of God's people.
For Christians, Christ's first coming answers that post-exilic hope, but as the awful shootings yesterday and other daily tragedies remind us, the hoped-for complete fulfillment of peace and well-being still lies in the future. "That glorious song of old" over Bethlehem gives much-needed hope; "when with the ever circling years shall come the time foretold/when peace shall over all the earth its ancient splendors fling,/the whole world send back the song which now the angels sing."
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