Soliloquy

Chapter 14 again issues a call to endurance, vs. 12. This indicates that there is a severe continuing conflict that the faithful must endure. Seven angels appear in this chapter, with a series of messages addressed to one or another of these two communities in conflict. John begins by identifying the community of the redeemed, numbering 144,000 undefiled and chaste bearing the mark of God, that is baptism, in contrast to the mark of the beast. An angelic voice sings a new song that only the redeemed know. This may indicate that John is giving a coded message to his churches, a message that only they can understand. A second angel proclaims the gospel, and call people to faith in God to avoid the coming judgment. John does not tire in trying to bring people under the protection of the church. From another point of view, if this refers to conflict within the church because of different beliefs, John is urging the dissidents to adopt the orthodox viewpoint and to be one with the rest. The third angel announces the fall of Babylon, that is, Rome has come under judgment because of her indulgence in impure passions, in contrast to the redeemed who are chaste. “Chaste” and “impure passions,” may refer to idolatry rather than sexual matters. Again, there is that idea that the internal conflict mimics the external conflict, that one group within the church is being accused of idolatry. They, like Rome, are condemned and will suffer the consequence of the judgment, that is, they have already inherited hell. The fourth angel makes it clear that what is at issue is idolatry, and this is immediately followed by the call to endurance, based on keeping the commandments of God and the faith of Jesus. Moving back to the external conflict, those who suffer and die are given a promise from the Lord, that their eternity is blessed, and they will find rest from their labors. The next three angels, two from the temple and one from the altar, announce the harvesting of the earth. The son of man oversees the harvest, that is, the gathering and the pressing of the grapes. This indicates the judgment of God upon the earth. Grapes are put into the wine press, but blood issues forth, outside the sacred city, that is, outside Zion identified in vs. 1. The city itself is not judged, it remains pure and holy, the seat of the divine. It appears that John continues to issue a warning to a dissenting group within the church that will come under judgment just as the empire will. He is encouraging the dissenters to return to the community of the redeemed. At the same time he is demonstrating how complete the judgment of God is upon the earth, that it is drenched in blood. While the redeemed are saved by the blood of the Lamb, the dissenters and the empire will be condemned by it.

Chapter 13 of the Apocalypse raises a number of literary questions. Is it a vision, a revelation, or is it deliberately conceived and researched narrative of John to keep his congregations on high alert? John calls for alertness and endurance, verses 9-10, and for wisdom and understanding in verse 18. He has again used a variety of models of myth in his narrative. This chapter reaches back to chapter five in order to present a contrary perspective. The adversary of the divine imitates the victorious Lamb. It is instructive to compare vs. 13:2 with 5:12; vs. 13:7 with 5:9; vs. 13:4 with 5:12; vs 13:3 with 5:6. Earlier in 12: 9 we had encountered the dragon as the ancient serpent, Satan, the Devil, all defined as “the deceiver of the whole world.” In chapter 13 the deception reaches a new level. The beast is now presenting itself as the Lamb. The Empire and the Emperor are compared to the Lamb and the Church. The dragon, whom we last saw standing on the beach, gives his power to the beast. The idea is that Satan is empowering the Empire and the Emperor. Just as the Lamb was wounded for the sins of the world, so now the emperor is wounded. Just as people worshiped God and the Lamb, now they are encouraged to worship the empire and the emperor. Those who were not in the book of life, that is, those not yet baptized in the name of the Lamb would worship the dragon. The beast from the sea, that is, the one who represents chaos, pretends to look like the Lamb, the one who represents order and harmony. Once again there seems to be a deeply veiled allusion to two groups in conflict within the church, groups with very different ideas of theology and beliefs. Against this background of conflict and deception, the faithful are encouraged to endure, to remain alert, to be wise and understanding. That is, John is asking his churches to read this message and interpret the myth which they must have already known, to remain in the orthodox theology, so to speak. Within the empire the citizens are now given a mark that allows them to trade, the mark is the number 666, which is interpreted as the name of the emperor, Nero. In the midst of divided allegiance, the churches are called upon to remain faithful, and to persevere, for the victory of the Lamb is already accomplished.

John,having proclaimed the Lordship of Christ, now turns his attention to the continuing struggle within the church, and between the church and the world. If, for example, we were to see the war in heaven, verses 7-12, as a heavily veiled allusion to an internal conflict in the church, we would conclude that one faction was expelled, taking the conflict outside the church, but still aimed at the teachings and practices of the church. In the concluding section of chapter 12, John indicates once more that the church survives the battle. The dragon who was unable to kill the male child, goes after the mother. The woman is given wings to escape, indicating that it is the divine that delivers her from the demonic. Again, the implication is that the church is being delivered constantly by the divine from the tribulation facing it. The woman flees into the wilderness and is pursued there by the dragon which intends to slay her. John is informing us that the church disperses and seeks shelter away from its normal settings, but no place is safe for the believers. The dragon unleashes a flood from its mouth to drown the woman, but the earth comes to her rescue, opening up its mouth and swallowing up the water, thereby saving the woman. The struggle between the dragon and the earth reminds us that the dragon is associated with water, which is the enemy of the divine. John employs mythological motifs to make his point that the divine delivers the church from its trials. Having failed now to destroy the woman, the dragon in frustration goes after her other children, “who keep the commandments of God and bear testimony to Jesus.” The dragon goes after the dispersed members of the church. In the closing scene, he is seen standing alone on the sand of the sea, that is, the dragon seems to find itself caught in the middle of something, between the sea and the dry land. If the dragon here represents a faction of the church that has been expelled, John may be telling us that for the time being this faction has become powerless, and that the faithful have been delivered, that is, preserved by the divine, the Lamb who was slain and who now reigns as Lord of all creation.

In chapter 12:7-12 there is a new scene. The action now moves back to heaven, and John describes a battle that is going on. Michael and his angels are fighting against the dragon and his angels. Up until this battle it appears that the dragon and his angels still had a place in heaven, but when they lost the battle, they no longer had that place, for they were cast down unto the earth. Myth is used to convey the message that the battle in which the church is engaged is being fought on both a physical and a spiritual front. The dragon is now clearly identified. He is the ancient serpent, the Devil, Satan, the deceiver. He represents forces that are contrary to the divine, forces that once reached into heaven, but have now been cast out. We are meant to understand that this battle has been going on since the creation. The “now” of verse 10 indicates that the victory is present, has already taken place. A new song of victory is sung, proclaiming the Lordship of Christ. The victory is won by the blood of the Lamb, by the testimony of the faithful, and the sacrifice of their lives. This suggests that the battle in heaven has its earthly counterpart. The church is engaged in a war with the world, and this has become more terrible because now the devil has come “in great wrath” against the church. But the suffering will be brief, and that is the encouragement that John wants to communicate to his churches. John wants his churches to know that they are already under the Lordship of Christ, that the spiritual warfare will continue against them, but that in the end they will win, because Christ has already won the victory for them.

The Apocalypse takes an astonishing turn in chapter 12. A new revelation is presented. One might even conjecture that as the first series of visions was centered on the divine male, so this second series is centered on the divine female. As if to show the continuity of the visions, this one follows immediately upon the theophany in the heavenly temple. Now in the heavens appears a woman wrapped in sunlight, standing upon the lighted moon, and a tiara of 12 shining stars on her head. This is certainly the woman of light. John is usiing ancient myth of astrology and symbols of the zodiac to disclose to his audience that this woman encompasses the cosmos, gathering to herself the light of the cosmos as if to protect her from the darkness which shortly will attack her. John is presenting a conflict between the divine and the demonic. We have seen this in earlier visions. Now it is the Cosmic Mother who is pursued. She is in anguished labor, perhaps implying that the Cosmic Mother shares in the tribulation of the earthly church. She is confronted by the Red Dragon with seven heads and ten horns, the symbol of Romam power and authority, but here representing the demonic power. The demonic, the ruler of the Abyss, awaits the child, who is to rule all nations with power, wanting to retain it in the abyss, the darkness, to prevent it from the power of the light. However, the divine immediately takes the child up to the heavenly throne room. The woman flees into the wilderness for a brief time, where the divine will provide for her. Now it becomes clear that the Cosmic Mother and the earthly church are one and the same. As the vision demonstrates, Mary gives birth to Jesus. The emperor wants to destroy the child, but the child is taken up to heaven, that is, given the protection of the divine. Mary, cosmic mother, the church, remains on earth also under divine protection. The wilderness into which the woman fled is the earth itself that gives her shelter. In the same way, God gives shelter to the church in times of tribulation. This is John’s message to his churches.

We have arrived at the end of chapter 11 of the Apocalypse. I have presented an interpretation from the perspective that the Passion of the Church is the Passion of Christ. The theophany at the end of chapter 11 discloses that Christ has triumphed, and this is the message that John wants his churches to embrace. Because Christ has triumphed in his passion, so too the church will triumph. He has demonstrated that those who do not heed the call to repentance will be destroyed. However, he assures his listeners that the divine continues to send forth that call, and will do so to the end. John began his narrative by presenting the exalted Christ, and showing that the exalted Christ already is present in the church. He has used images of myth and images of history, blending them into a presentation of his message of hope and redemption. In the next sections, John will answer: who is this Christ? What is his purpose? He will take us back to beginnings, again blending myth and history, to demonstrate that the divine is indeed the creator and redeemer. If we want to think in terms of our Apostles’ Creed, which did not exist for John and his church, we may conclude that John has already addressed the First Article, and most of the Second Article. He will continue by returning to the Birth of Christ, and lead us forward. Again, he begins as visionary, and will move toward his new identity as prophet as his narrative flows on.