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 Johannine Studies - Lectures 6-10 Here you will find lecture study notes. For a printable/downloadable version for each lecture, click on the link provided next to each lecture. New notes will be posted after the lecture is presented. Scroll down for the lectures in sequence. This page was last modified on Saturday, April 26, 2008
Johannine Studies
Lecture 6 Study Notes – March 4, 2008 Printable Version
1. The “I am” sayings: What are they? The normal way in which one would say “I am” in the Greek is “eimi.” The first person pronoun, I, is implied in the form of this verb. For emphasis, one might add the first person pronoun, ego in front of it. The result is literally saying something like “I, myself am!” Hence, we have “ego eimi.” (see Greek handout)
2. This emphatic construction appears on Jesus lips in three ways:
a. The first is with an explicit predicate: meaning it tells what the verb gives action or meaning to. An example of this is 6:35, “I am the bread of life.”
b. Another form is the “I am” with what appears to be an implied predicate. An example is 6: 20 when Jesus says “It is I, don’t be afraid.” Much like saying “I am he.” But in the Greek the emphatic form of “ego eimi” suggests that the writer of John had something special in mind.
c. The special meaning is obviously intended in the so-called absolute “I am” saying, those without any predicate or an implied predicate. John 8:24 says: “For you will die in your sins unless you believe that I am He.”
3. Most people agree that “ego eimi” is more than just emphatic. They believe that John is using them in a profound Christological way. Let’s look at why.
4. First, all the Gospel of John has two sets of sayings of Jesus that include the words “I am.” In one set as already mention before, there is an explicit predicate or noun that follows it. The seven sayings are as follows:
a. I am the bread of life. (6:35, 41, 48)
b. I am the light of the world. (8:12; 9:5)
c. I am the gate for the sheep. (10: 7, 9)
d. I am the good shepherd. (10: 11, 14)
e. I am the resurrection and the life. (11:25)
f. I am the way and the truth and the life. (14:56)
g. I am the true vine. (15:1)
Remember what makes these seven passages distinctive and therefore special is the emphatic emphasis of the double pronoun and its verb. To me, it is like some people today will say “I am!!!!!!! The Man!!!!!! The emphasis is in their voice and how long they hold the syllables out. Not bragging, but for emphasis in John’s writings, John has Jesus saying “I am!!!!! The bread of Life!!!!! However, there is more to it than that, we’ll see that in a minute.
5. Let’s look at the second series of “I am” sayings of Jesus. These are known as the “absolute I am sayings.” Again they stand alone without the predicate or maybe, in some instances, an implied predicate. They are not always easy to identify so there is some disagreement over whether they are just ordinary usages or not. The seven passages in which the “I am” stand-alones are: 4:26; 6:20; 8:24; 8:28; 8: 58; 13:19; 18: 5,6,8.
6. The best known of these saying is 8:58. Notice that after this saying, “Truly, truly, I tell you, before Abraham, I am,” the Jewish leaders picked up stones to kill Him (verse 59).
7. Why did they try to kill Him? If it were because of Him saying that He pre-existed before Abraham, they would have just thought that He was crazy (which they did anyway). But when He added the “ego eimi,” they wanted to kill Him because they thought He was being blasphemous. Why?
8. Let’s do a little review on the Old Testament. What language was the original Old Testament written in? Hebrew. How about the original New Testament? By the time Jesus walked the earth, the Hebrew language was pretty much a non-functioning language. The spoken language of Jesus’ day was Aramaic. It was the ancient Semitic language that predates the Hebrew. It is believed that when Israel invaded the Land of Canan, they spoke more Aramaic than Hebrew. However, during the exilic and postexilic era (6th century) the spoken language of the Jews became Aramaic. Hebrew remained the religious and scholarly language of the Jews. However, after 300 B.C.E. Greek came to replace the Hebrew in religious circles, because Jews were scattered deep in the Greek world. This Greek translation of the Old Testament was called the Septuagint (Latin for book of seventy. The legend is that 74 scholars translated the entire Hebrew cannon to Greek in 74 days. For reason no one knows it was called the Book of the Seventy or LXX). (reference Mercer Dictionary page 808)
9. The point being that the LXX was the Old Testament scriptures that the writers of the Bible used. In all likelihood, it was the translation that Jesus used. John and His readers were even more likely to be familiar with the LXX than the Hebrew translation of the Old Testament.
10. Now let’s turn to Deuteronomy 32:39. In this scripture the writer says: “Behold I, even I am He” meaning that I am unique. In the LXX, the words for “I, even I am He” are “ego eimi;” the very words that Jesus used about Himself in John. Other scriptures, especially those in Isaiah 40-55 (41:4; 43:10; 46:4), also used “ego eimi” to describe God. So the phrase “I am He” is an extra-ordinarily significant one. It is a divine self-declaration, encapsulating YHWH’s claim to unique and exclusive divinity (see The Testimony of the Beloved Disciple by Richard Bauckham page 246-248). In other words, God is saying there is no one like me; nothing measures up to who I am.
11. The passage in Deuteronomy 32: 39-43 is frequently regarded as an eschatological prophecy of the salvation that God would achieve for His people (read). And it is linked closely to the prophecies of Isaiah 40-55. So much so that His great act of eschatological salvation will demonstrate him to be the one and only God in the sight all the nations, revealing his glory so that all the ends of the earth will acknowledge him as God and turn to Him for salvation.
12. Let’s look at Exodus 3:14. It is interesting that the LXX does not use “ego eimi,” but another Greek word. This scripture is however instructive because it gets at what the rest of the “ego eimi” passages are saying: namely that God is unique so much so there is nothing to compare Him. After all, names are just there to compare and contrast whom we are from someone else. They help establish our identity, but who is there to compare to God? What helps God to establish and contrast His identity? No one, therefore He is simply but profoundly “I am who I am.” (See Isaiah 45: 21-24)
13. In John, Jesus is this unique God who, like His heavenly Father, is seeking to bring salvation to all the earth.
14. John’s “I am” sayings “with the predicates” are ways Jesus metaphorically describes Himself as the one who gives salvation. Where the “absolute sayings” are general declarations of God’s unique greatness, the “predicates” are specific ways in which Jesus is revealing God’s name and nature. By all means these are not all the ways, but it is seven ways in which Jesus says God’s name is working out our deliverance.
15. There are also 7 signs in John’s Gospel which, compared to the seven “I am” saying with a predicate, are practical concrete expressions of the ways in which Jesus demonstrates his power of salvation. Jesus feeds the 5,000 and declares himself to be the bread of life. Jesus opens the eyes of the blind and says He is the light of the world; Jesus raises Lazarus from the dead, and says he is the “resurrection and the life.”
1. The Humanity of Jesus- (Homework: Look for examples in John of the humanity of our Lord). One example is John 7:1-10 which has Jesus changing His mind about going to Jerusalem.
2. The Nature of Faith or believing in John (see Culpepper page 97 and following)
a. John contains the most probing treatment of the experience of faith in the New Testament.
b. The Gospel also talks about free will and determinism. (John 3:16 and John 6:65)
On one hand the invitation is offered to all, but not all accept. Yet John says all who believe have been drawn by God. The initiative remains with God.
c. For John, believing is not a static response; but it is a way of life. Those who believe can change for better or for worse.
d. Let their response to this message reveals whether they are from above or from below, one of the children of God or one of the children of the devil. Here again is the dualism of John.
e. The purpose of the Gospel is to believe—literally, to keep on believing. (John 20: 31)
f. The greatest work according to Jesus and John is to believe. (John 6:29)
3. The lowest level of faith is for those who must have a sign or a miracle to convince them to follow Jesus. 2:11 is a good example of the disciples needing a sign to follow Jesus, yet some people don’t even believe with all the signs—see 6:26. In addition, doubting Thomas must see the wounds in Jesus’ side and hands before he will believe that Jesus rose from the grave—John 20:24-25. And even after Thomas is shown Jesus’ wounded body, Jesus says: “Because you have seen me, you have believed; blessed are those who have not seen and yet have believed.” (20:29)
4. The next level of faith is represented by those who come to Jesus because they hear His words. The Samaritan woman at the well is a good example because she says, “He told me everything I’ve done.” The Samaritans in town “believed because of His word.” (4:41) And in verse 42, it says, “we have heard for ourselves.” Yet there are those who have heard and seen that cannot believe. Look at 6:34-37; 10:22-30.
5. The highest level of faith, according to Culpepper, is illustrated by those who know, love and bear witness to that love. Faith, as it matures, goes from believing it to knowing it. Some people have been a Christian so long that not only do they live by faith that Jesus loves them, they know it. Faith after growing and maturing becomes almost like a type of knowledge itself.
6. 98 times the Gospel uses the verb “to believe.” According to Kysar there are three different objects of faith for the Fourth Gospel. (page 109)
a. Most often one is asked to believe in Jesus, a personal relationship with Him. The most common construction is the use “believe” with preposition “eis” (into or in), and the object of such preposition is Jesus himself.
b. Sometimes the object of the belief is not the person but the statements He makes. “Believe the words Jesus speaks” (2:22). Not too much of a difference because it is obvious, at least to me, that one implies the other. Because if you put your faith in Jesus as the Revealer, you believe what Jesus says to be true.
c. The third is different; sometimes there are faith statements about Jesus. In such instances, the reader is called to believe that Jesus is the Revealer, the Messiah, the Father’s Son (11:27). The emphasis has switched away from faith in a personal relationship to an intellectual acceptance—creed or doctrine. (James 2:19 a prime example of this kind of belief) (What kind of faith is 1 John 5:1?)
7. According to Ksyar, John appears to be partly responsible for the beginning of the shift in the early church toward a creedal understanding of faith. In other words, the Gospel of John, probably the earliest book in the Bible, that we begin to find the word “faith” with a creedal ring. He was not aware of this shift, because he was fundamentally advocating a personal relationship with Jesus, but evidently, the community was being threatened by people who believed differently. I don’t see how this shift can be avoided, given differences of opinion in doctrinal matters, but we’ve got to help our people to understand the difference between being doctrinal correct (which is very important with our core beliefs) than having a personal relationship with Jesus.
8. However, the Johannine Christians doubtlessly believed that a personal relationship with Christ leads naturally and logically to faith statements about who Christ is. In other words, another motive for the rise of the creedal concept of faith is the desire to speak honestly and clearly about the Christ figure.
9. John never uses the word faith, but always to believe. To John, faith is not a noun, but a verb. It is an active, ongoing process, in which to believe not only means believing once, but believing over and over again. It is not a static concept but an ongoing dynamic state of being.
10. One of the more curious and thought provoking passages in John about faith is John 2:20-25. What does it mean to say that to some of those who believed Jesus did not trust them? A possible explanation is the Parable of Soils in Matthew 13. Their level of faith just wasn’t deep in the soil to bear the fruit that Jesus felt comfortable being around.
11. Doctrine of the Holy Spirit and the Hope of the Future in John’s Gospel. (Pneumatology- What is believed and taught about the Spirit)
According to Culpepper (page 103) there are two distinctive thoughts to John’s understanding of the life of the believer—the Holy Spirit and the hope of the future.
12. The Greek word for spirit is “pneuma” meaning breathe or wind. According to Kysar, pneuma is found 24 times in John’s Gospel, referring most of the time to the Spirit of God but occasionally to the human spirit (John 11:33; 13:21).
13. According to Ksyar, the Gospel speaks of the Spirit in four distinct but interrelated ways.
One, it refers to the power and character of God given to Jesus. (1:32, 33; 3:34)
Two, it refers to the life of the Spirit. Meaning, that the Spirit that is associated with the presence of God results in a new life for the believer. Through Jesus the divine life is given to believers (7:39; 20:22)
Three, the Spirit is the transition to this new life in Christ Jesus. The believer is born out of water and the Spirit (3:5), and the new birth is done of God not of human activity (3:6; 6:63). The idea of the birth of Spirit is a metaphor for the way in which the life of the believer changes because of God’s presence.
Four, the Spirit is associate with a uniquely Johannine expression, the “Advocate,” paraclete, or helper.
14. John’s characteristic way of speaking about the Holy Spirit is the word “Paraclete” or in the Greek, “paraketos.” It is the only Gospel to speak of it so. It basically means “to call beside or come along beside of.” It has been translated as “comforter” or “counselor” or “advocate” depending on the translator.
15. Different shades of the meaning “Paraclete.”
One, it has the image of a legal counsel that helps assist a client in a court case—hence an advocate or counselor. The Paraclete is one who intercedes, entreats, or makes appeals for another. He is a defense attorney who speaks on the behalf of his or her client.
Two, the Paraclete is “one who comforts, and consoles another.” The King James Version uses the word “Comforter.”
Three, it also means one who “proclaims or exhorts.” It is the Proclaimer.
16. In John 14-16, the author has the following to say about the nature and function of the Paraclete. The Nature—It comes from and is related to the Father and Son. It is identified numerous ways.
a. The Paraclete comes only if Jesus departs (15:26; 16:7,8,13).
b. The Paraclete comes from the Father (15:26).
c. The Father gives the Paraclete in response to Jesus’ request (14:16).
d. The Paraclete is sent in Jesus’ name (14: 26).
e. Jesus sends the Paraclete from the Father (15:26, 16:7).
f. It is another Paraclete, implying that Jesus is the first (14:16).
g. It is the Spirit of Truth (14:17; 15:26; 16:13).
h. It is the Holy Spirit (14:26).
Johannine Studies
Enjoy Spring Break !!! – March 18, 2008
Johannine Studies Lecture 8 Study Notes - March 25, 2008 The Function: The Holy Spirit as seen in relationship to the disciples and the world.
a. The Paraclete was easily recognized by the disciples (14:17).
b. It is within and continues to remain with them (14:16-17).
c. It is the Disciples’ teacher (16:13).
d. Announces to them things that are to occur in the future (16: 13).
e. Declares what belongs to Christ and what does not (16:14).
f. Glorifies Christ (16:14).
g. Witnesses to Christ (15:26).
h. Reminds the disciples of all that Jesus said (14: 26).
i. Speaks of only what is heard (16: 13)
j. The world cannot accept the Paraclete (14:17; 15:26).
k. Cannot see nor recognize the Paraclete (14:17).
l. However, does not prevent the witness of the Spirit to Christ by its rejection (15:26).
m. The world is condemned, proven wrong, and pronounced guilty of sin by the Paraclete (16:8-11).
n. In essence, the Paraclete has a twofold function: To communicate Christ to the believers and to put the world on trial and find it guilty as charge. Imagine the latter reason might be of some satisfaction to Christians who were on trial and being found guilty for their faith in Christ.
1. The community of John seems to be solving two basic problems with this understanding of the Paraclete. First, the delay of Parousia, the Second Coming. Christ has not come back as He was expected to. However, the author of John talks as if for the time being that Christ has appeared in the form of the Paraclete (page 130, Kysar). Therefore, the Paraclete is Christ is our midst. So the message might be interpreted to say: “Don’t keep looking obsessively for Christ’s return; look instead into the presence of the community. Because Christ is here. Therefore, the view of the Paraclete is a part of the eschatology of the book, the realized eschatology of John’s theology.
2. The second is, how does the church of today connect itself to the power and presence of the living Christ? The Gospel’s answer to the problem of bridging the time gap back to the historical revelation is through the person and the work of the Paraclete.
3. The Paraclete takes God’s revelation in the person of Jesus and mediates to the persons of later time.
4. Origin of the Spirit—The Spirit as the third person of the Trinity has always been God and been with God. In the Old Testament, there are numerous references to the Spirit of God, especially when the Spirit comes upon a prophet of God. For example, look at Ezekiel 2:2; 3: 12, 14 as the Spirit overwhelming and moving the Prophet Ezekiel. Yet just as surely as it was given it could be taken away (Psalms 51:11).
5. But the New Testament starts talking about the Spirit in a more permanent way. John 7: 37-39 is an example of Jesus saying that the pouring out of the Spirit upon the believers was yet to come. John 19: 34 is seen as a fulfillment of this promise. Origen, 2nd century writer, said this about the Rock that Moses struck (Exodus 11: 2), that just as he struck the rock in the wilderness in order that it yielded life-giving water, so too Christ, when he was struck, caused streams of the New Covenant to flow. However, some people suggest that because there was no mention of blood that there is no connection. Yet, according Gary M. Burge in his book “The Anointed Community: The Holy Spirit in the Johannine Tradition,” a Targum on Numbers 20:11 says: “and Moses lifted up his hand, and with his rod struck the rock twice: at the first time it dropped blood, but at the second time there came forth a multitude of waters.” No doubt in Jesus’ and John’s thinking, Jesus as the New Moses is doing things better than the old Moses could ever imagine doing for his people.
6. Look at 1 Corinthians 10: 1-4 for another striking the rock reference.
7. It is a very important point that John 7: 39 links together the cross and the Spirit: The Spirit is closely related to Jesus’ death. In the present symbolism, the Spirit flows (water flows) as it were, only when it joins the blood/death of Christ. The spear was meant to insure death, but paradoxically (irony) it made available the living water within the Christ. According to Burge, “The living Spirit must seemly await its host’s death to be released. That is to say, the living Spirit is none other than the life of its Lord” (page 95).
8. Note the Spirit doesn’t come upon the disciples until later (20:22), then upon the rest of the Christian church until Pentecost.
9. Another interesting scripture on the origins of the Spirit is found in 1 John 5: 6-8. Water here points to Jesus’ baptism, yet the baptism by blood couldn’t come until his glorification or his death (7:39). Once again the cross and Spirit are tied together.
10. To sum up, both 7:37ff and 19:34 stress two themes: one, the Spirit is viewed as a feature of Jesus’ own life. It is the living water within him. To receive this water one must come, drink, and believe in Jesus.
11. These passages bring together the major saving themes of John’s gospel: death, glorification, witness, and belief. The one who baptizes in the Spirit (1:33) is also the lamb of God (1:29; 19:36) who dies not only to give life (3:16) but also to give the Spirit (16:17). For John, that living water is the Spirit (7:39).
12. In Revelation 22:1ff John sees the River of life flowing out from under the throne of God… Even in Heaven it is the Spirit that is the life-giving force of all eternity.
Johannine Studies Lecture 9 Study Notes - April 1, 2008
1. Ethics of John—love. It is very simple that the ethic of the Gospel of John and the Letters of John is love. Simple and yet very profound. Profound in the sense that the ethics of love is not as easy to understand and practice as we might want to believe, especially with those who would oppose us. John, especially the Letters of John, deal with what love means in the practice of day-to-day living inside the Johannine community.
2. Let’s look at references to love in John:
Love in reference to Jesus and God the father:
a. John 5: 42 “I know that you do not have the love of God in you.” The all-important test of discipleship is the love of God in us.
b. John 8: 42 “IF God were your Father, you would love me…”
c. John 14: 15-24 “loving Jesus means keeping his commandments.”
Love in reference to one another:
a. John 12:25 “those who love their life lose it…”
b. John 13: 34 “a new commandment, that you love one another…” Very important in John’s letters.
c. John 13:35 “if you have love for one another.”
d. John 15: 12 “that you love one another as I love you.”
Loving Jesus and Loving one another is one and the same:
a. John 21: 15-17
Loving in John’s Letters:
a. 2:5, 15; 3:1, 10, 14, 16, 17, 18, 23; 4: 7,8,9,10, 11, 12, 16, 17, 18, 19, 20, 21; 5:2,3,
b. 2 John 1: 1,3,5,6,
c. 3 John 1: 1, 6
The Epistles of John
3. Authorship. 1, 2 and 3 John are attributed to John because of the similarities between them and the Fourth Gospel, but not until around three hundred years. Really, it could almost be anyone who was an elder (position of authority) in the Johannine community, or quite simply it could have been someone elderly in the community.
4. Letter or what? The latter two writings are obviously letters. 1 John does make several statements to the fact that he is writing to them, but 1 John doesn’t fit the usual format of a written letter. Contrast 2, 3 John and Paul’s letters to see how the letters of the New Testament day and times were written.
5. According to Kysar, “It is difficult to create an outline of 1 John, because it is nearly impossible to discern logical breaks in the flow of the discussion.” Instead, “the document appears to be a series of loosely related admonitions and consolations, each written in rather rambling and almost stream-of-consciousness style” (page 167). It could have been bits and pieces of sermons passed on in loose fitting thematic format.
6. The heart of the concern of the material does seem to be a group of people who have left the community, either by choose or by necessity. The group that has left is causing a great deal of concern in the community by their leaving and the author makes considerable effort to say they were never about them or not even Christian for that matter (2: 18-19). In fact, he says that their going is another reason to believe that we are in the “last hour.”
7. The elder likes to use some form of the Greek word “menet”—abide or remain, to console or encourage those left behind (see the following examples: 2: 6, 14, 24, 27, 28; 3:6, 9, 14,17, 24; 4: 13,15,16).
8. For those who left the community, most scholars believe that this is a group of Gnostics whom deny the humanity of Jesus in favor of a purely spiritual being. A thinking that they evidently feel excludes them from any moral law or responsibility.
9. His charges are the following:
a. They do not practice love, at least in relationship to the rest of the community (2: 9-11; 4: 20-21).
b. They deny the humanity of Jesus Christ (2:22; 4:2-3; 5: 5-6).
c. Allied with forces that are opposed to the church (2:15-16; 4: 5-6;
d. Are weapons of evil (3:8).
e. They are the antichrists of the last days (2: 18-23). In fact, anyone who does not believe that Jesus is the Christ is an anti-christ (vs. 22).
f. Guilty of mortal sin (5:16) even though they claim to free of sin (1: 6-10; 3: 3-6).
g. Live without moral restrictions (3: 4-10).
10. Even though the structure of the writing is hard to outline, there are five themes that John presents to us.
a. Fleshly humanity of Jesus Christ (1 John 4:2).
b. Saving work of Jesus Christ (1 John 1: 7b,9; 2:2, 3:5; 4:10).
c. Understanding of sin (1 John 1:8, 10; 3:4, 8, 9; 5: 16-17).
d. Importance of moral living (1 John 1:7; 2:3, 4,6,24; 3: 7, 14; 4: 5,7,16).
e. The Last days (1 John 2: 18, 28; 3:2; 4:17).
Johannine Studies Lecture 10 Study Notes - April 8, 2008
The Book of Revelation
1. What kind of Literature is the Book of Revelation?
If I were to ask you: “Could you read?” you would be insulted. But if I asked you if you knew how to read the Book of Revelation, what would be your reaction? One of the many problems that readers of the Bible have is they don’t know how to read it. Not that they cannot read, because most everyone has the reading skills to read it, but how to read it is another matter. Misinterpretations of Revelation often begin by misconceiving the kind of book it is.
2. The first few verses of the book seem to indicate that it is at least three different types of literature: One, verse 1 speaks of it as being an apocalypse; Two, verse 3 says it is a prophecy; and Three, verses 4-6 indicate it is a letter (see handout, page 20: Charts of the Book of Revelation: Literary, Historical, and Theological Perspectives by Mark Wilson).
3. Apocalypse- The noun “apocalypse” comes from the Greek word (…) which means “revelation.” So, an apocalypse is a book that reveals hidden information. A formal definition of the apocalypse is found in John J. Collins’ book “The Apocalyptic Imagination: An Introduction to Jewish Apocalyptic Literature. In it he says apocalyptic literature is: “a genre of revelatory literature with a narrative framework, in which a revelation is mediated by an otherworldly being to a human recipient, disclosing a transcendent reality which is both temporal, insofar as it envisages eschatological salvation, and spatial insofar as it involves another, supernatural world” (page 5). According to Collins, this definition can be applied to various sections of 1 & 2 Enoch, Daniel, 2 & 3 Baruch, 4 Ezra, Apocalypse of Abraham, Testament of Levi, Apocalypse of Zephaniah, Jubilees, and Testament of Abraham just to name a few. Of course, we believe that Revelation is an example of apocalyptic literature as well.
4. As a historical expression of this specific type of literature, apocalypticism can take on several motifs:
1) Urgent expectation of the end of earthly conditions which are troublesome to people
2) The end as a cosmic catastrophe
3) Periodization and determinationism
4) Activity of angels and demons
5) New salvation, paradisal in character
6) Manifestation of the kingdom of God
7) A mediator with royal functions;
8) The catchword “glory”
5. They are also written under someone else’s name, usually someone famous. Apocalypses usually have coded speech in which animals, numbers, and natural occurrences take on special meanings. They also contain a lot of material that instructs individuals how to live based on the secrets given to them.
6. What gives rise to this type of literature? Most scholars believe that apocalyptic literature is a child or offspring of prophetic literature (Mercer Dictionary, page 37). Scholars point to the texts of Ezek 38-39, Isa 24-27, 34-35, 56-66, Joel, and Zech 9-14 as seedbeds for this type of literature.
7. Other scholars believe that apocalyptic thinking arises in cultures or subcultures in which groups of people are deprived of the very things that make life livable and meaningful. When the reality of their lives becomes too far separated from their hopes and aspirations, hence, external attacks and persecutions, loss of values and moral, and challenges of worldviews tend to cause a rise in apocalyptic literature.
In our own culture, people seem to turn toward the study of Revelation when our perception of what is good and right in our society is in jeopardy. Difficult times lead people to seek the message of God in God’s prophetic word.
8. Prophecy- In the Old Testament, the basic meaning of “nabbi” or prophet is “to speak God’s message” or to be a “speaker for God” (Deut. 18:18; Jeremiah 1:7; Isa. 1:20). He or she is also a “seer” as in “one who sees” what is revealed to them by God. The emphasis is on what is seen and known rather than what is done.
9. There are several key themes in prophetic writings: impending judgment, the terrible day of the Lord; social reform, correcting the injustices done toward their fellowman; condemnation of Idolatry, put away false gods and turn to the true and only God; and the coming of the Messiah and His Kingdom.
10. The New Testament idea of the prophet is one who spoke for God. In the Gospel of John, Jesus is seen as the revealer, the spokesperson for God who would make known the will and direction of God for humanity. Jesus himself was called prophet (John 6:14; 7:40, 52).
11. In fact, according to Mercer Dictionary (page 714), “Early Christianity began as a prophetic movement, a fact evident both in the earliest historical presentation of Christian beginnings found in Acts (2: 1-42; 11: 27-30; 13: 1-3; 21: 10-11).” The primary evidence for New Testament is found in the Letters of Paul (particularly 1 Cor. 12-14, 1 Thess. 5: 19-20), the Acts of the Apostles and, of course, the Book of Revelation.
12. The essence of New Testament prophecy is to witness of Jesus Christ. Rev. 19: 10 “…Worship God! For the testimony of Jesus is the spirit of prophecy.” For more information on prophecy see: “The Complete Book of Bible Prophecy” by Mark Hitchcock.
13. Don’t forget that Revelation 2-3 consists of seven letters to seven churches. Revelation has the elements of a typical Hellenistic-Roman letter: the greeting, 1: 4-5a; the blessing or thanksgiving, 1: 5b-6; body, 1: 7-22: 20; and the closing, 22:21. With everything else going on in the book, it is easy to forget that it is a letter to these seven churches. In Bauckham’s book, “The Theology of the Book of Revelation,” he reminds us that not all the seven churches were receiving the same message. He writes:
“The messages show that John addresses a variety of situations which he perceives as very different. By no means were all of his readers poor and persecuted by an oppressive system: many were affluent and compromising with the oppressive system. The latter are offered not consolation and encouragement, but severe warnings and calls to repent. For these Christians, the judgments which are so vividly described in the rest of the book should appear not as judgments on their enemies so much as judgments they themselves were in danger of incurring, since worshipping the beast was not something only their pagan neighbors did. Worshipping the beast was something many of John’s Christian readers were tempted to do or were actually doing… (page 15).”
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