Page 168 - Biblical Backgrounds

similar in that respect. The goal of God is not to bring them to repentance but rather to punish their
willful rejection. 214 It demonstrates how a conceptual echo can be traced through scripture.

Another potential thematic echo is the exodus motif. While liberation scholars wildly abuse it, there is
no doubt that there is a theme in Scripture of God liberating His oppressed people. Revelation shows
the evil authorities of this world oppressing the Jewish people. God rescues them, and they turn to their
Messiah. This shows up in the prophets within Israel when they accuse the leaders of oppressing the
people through many different means, including denying them justice. This may be an “echo” of a
theme in the OT that is foundational for the Revelation prophecies of God’s future deliverance of His
people from evil authorities at the return of Christ.

While these may or may not be correctly categorized as echoes, they certainly could be understood in
this manner. They are a potential OT background every pastor should be familiar with.
These tools of allusions, citations, and quotations, and potential echoes are helpful ways of recognizing
and categorizing the cultural backgrounds of the Revelation. It helps us better understand the cultural
eyes of the author and the recipient of Revelation.

Other Backgrounds and theories of interpretation of Revelation

The Roman Empire had laid waste to Jerusalem in AD 70. The people of God were scattered. We believe
the year was approximately AD 90, but are not certain. John had been banished to Patmos, an island in
the Aegean Sea. There he receives a series of visions, and he is told to prophesy (Revelation 1:3, 10:11,
and 22:10, 18). What might have been the cultural background? Many have proposed different views.
Some have focused on the numbers and tried to show how the numbers correlate to cultural realities.
For instance, Rome is called the city on seven hills. It literally was a city on hills, but some have also
pointed to the seven emperors. Some have said the seven hills is a hidden political reference to the
seven emperors from Jesus' lifetime until John’s writing. This is an interesting coincidence and not
obviously impossible, yet the connection also cannot be proven. It is wiser to note the similarity but not
base one’s interpretation of Revelation on it.

More likely, the backgrounds we can know include the following. Like John, the Jews and the Christians
had been scattered in the aftermath of the Roman invasion. Jerusalem, the city of God, was destroyed.
God’s people, the Jews, were left wondering why He hadn’t sent the Messiah. When would God act to
bring about His promises? God’s people, the church, were frustrated as well. They were enduring fierce
persecution from the Roman emperors because they affirmed a different god and king from the
emperor. They were waiting on Christ, the King of Kings and Lord of Lords, to return, deal with the evil
empire, and set up the promised Kingdom. John, a Jewish Christian, uses the stories of the faithfulness
of God as he explains the visions God had given him regarding how God would bring all things under
Christ. He employs apocalyptic language of cosmic battles, heavenly hosts, and world renewal under the
Messiah. He speaks of the coming Kingdom followed by the eternal state. Jesus will reign from
Jerusalem. He prophesies how the events will unfold as God brings about the promise.
Some use the apocalyptic imagery to dismiss the overarching message of the literal coming Kingdom,
followed by an eternal state. They make it a literary device rather than part of the assured future. The
early church, until Augustine, did not understand it this way. Augustine, 300 or so years after Christ,
asked the question of why Jesus hadn’t come. His response was to reinterpret Revelation as an allegory
rather than stay faithful to the dominant view in the church up to his time. Many views of Revelation

214 Ibid. p. 75.

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