The Three-Stage Gospel Narrative, Part 5
The Three-Stage Gospel Narrative, Part 5
Revelation
(avg. read time: 3–6 mins.)
Part 4: Hebrews and the General Epistles
Part 5: Revelation
As is true in many other respects, the Book of Revelation has its own way of expressing its key narratives. But as is also true in many respects, there is some remarkable similarity with the rest of the NT. In John’s opening greeting, he gives an identity statement of Jesus that well encapsulates the three stages of the gospel story in 1:5. He refers to him as the faithful witness (cf. 3:14), which, in the context of Revelation as a whole, implies his faithfulness and testimony was unto death, specifically leading directly to his death (cf. Antipas in 2:13, the two witnesses in 11:3, and the blood of the witnesses in 17:6). But even if that were not so, his death and its efficaciousness in dealing with sin are still invoked in the next sentence in the verse. The reference to him being the firstborn from the dead is obviously a reference to his resurrection (cf. 1 Cor 15:20; Col 1:18). Finally, the description of him as the ruler over the kings of the earth refers to his exaltation.
The same threefold pattern is applied to Jesus’s self-description in John’s heavenly vision, wherein he says “I died and behold I am alive forever, and I hold the keys of death and Hades [i.e., exaltation]” (1:18). The first parts of this self-description also reappear in 2:8 in the letter to the church in Smyrna. He also refers to his victory (concretized in his resurrection) and exaltation to sit on his Father’s throne in 3:21.
In the heavenly scene in ch. 5, after no one had yet been found to open the scroll, we are introduced to the one who is worthy to open it. He is described as the Lion of the tribe of Judah who has conquered (5:5; again, signifying his resurrection). The one who is thus worthy, who stands on the throne (i.e., exaltation) is seen as a lamb who was slain, but who is now alive (5:6). His exaltation is further signified with the worship of those in heaven (5:8–9). They proclaim his worthiness as being because of the gospel events (5:9–12).
And as we have seen elsewhere, John also applies the gospel narrative pattern to the lives of believers. In 1:6 he says that Jesus Christ made us to be a kingdom, priests to God. This is a fulfillment of the identity of Israel as a kingdom of priests (Exod 19:6). As is typical in these statements of covenantal relationships, the statement of who God is and what God has done is the foundation for covenant communal identity and covenant communal responsibility. This is as true for the Revelation text as it is for the Exodus text. This connection between the holy rule of Christ and the holy rule of his people here is also similar to the scene in Dan 7 where the vindicated Son of Man represents the holy people of God and their rule over his world, along with the reception of glory and dominion. In the same ways, Jesus’s death (signified here by his blood), resurrection (signified here by being the firstborn of the dead), and exaltation (signified here by his being the ruler of the kings of the earth) establish this framework of the identity of believers as a kingdom and priests that will be relevant to everything else that John says about believers in this work. As in Exodus, the salvific event by God brings about the covenantal identity of God’s people. As in Daniel, those who share in the vindication of Christ (which also implies sharing in his death, as the suffering righteous in Daniel are eventually shown to experience resurrection as their vindication) will also share in his kingdom.
I will explore these points and others more fully when I post something I have written on resurrection and identity formation in Revelation. What I can do now is cite a few examples. First, the letter to the church in Smyrna demonstrates what it looks like to embody the gospel pattern and receive the hope that is shaped after the gospel, as the Smyrnaeans are expected to be faithful unto death so that they will receive resurrection in confirmation of their victorious life (2:10–11).
Second, in addition to the victory of resurrection, after the pattern of Christ, Christ promises that the one who conquers will sit with him on his throne, sharing in his exaltation, even as he conquered and sat with his Father on his throne (3:21). This will be an undercurrent of the story of Revelation as a whole, as the believers who persevere through all the pressures and trials stated and implied in the narrative eventually receive the inheritance of the resurrection and consequent life in the new creation. This path broadly mirrors Jesus’s own story, albeit on a collective and cosmic stage. Jesus’s conquering action is juxtaposed to his sitting on his throne, so that there is an implied logical order of Jesus accomplishing victory and, upon accomplishing that victory, he is able to take his seat on the throne (this is, after all, the implied logical order of all of the promises to conquerors). While one could argue—accurately—that this conquest characterizes Jesus’s life as a whole through the lens of Revelation, the action that most fittingly crystallizes that conquest is his resurrection. Such an interpretation also makes sense in light of the juxtaposition of conquest and session on the heavenly throne.
Third, as such, 3:21 represents a crucial victory text that indicates the previous promises to the conquerors also signify participating in Christ’s victory, as well as that subsequent references to the victory of believers (12:11; 15:2; 21:7) indicate their participation in Christ’s victory (5:5; 17:14). Fourth, consistently with what has been noted already, even as Christ is the priestly king, he has made from every tribe, tongue, people, and nation a kingdom of priests who will reign on the earth (5:9–10). Their reign as priestly kings participating in the reign of God and Christ is still in the future, but their awareness of where the story is going leads to an implied imperative—equivalent to the descriptions of those who do as Jesus commands as conquerors in the seven letters—to live the victorious life, the holy and royal life, in the present in anticipation of being among those who receive the inheritance of God’s kingdom. Fifth, again using language and imagery from 1:6 and 5:10, the resurrected saints in 20:4–6 are exalted to sit on thrones, even as Christ was exalted after his resurrection in vindication of his faithfulness unto death. Sixth, likewise, those who are the servants of God and the Lamb are said in the new creation to reign forever and ever (22:3–5).