What Things Must Occurr
The book of Revelation’s first paragraph lists its purpose, themes, and main characters, and that purpose is to show God’s servants “what things must come to pass.” And it declares the timing of those “things” as “soon.” The imminence of the projected events is emphasized further by stating that the “season is near.”
God
“gave” the “revelation” that is now unveiled to Jesus, who then “gave”
it to his angel to show “his servants” what would occur “soon.”
- (Revelation 1:1-3) – “Revelation of Jesus Christ, which God gave to him to show his servants the things which must come to pass soon, and he showed them by signs, sending through his angel to his servant John, who bore witness to the word of God and the testimony of Jesus Christ, whatsoever things he saw. Happy is he that reads, and they who hear, the words of the prophecy, and keep the things written in it, for the season is near.”
THE AUDIENCE
The
book’s recipients are called the “servants” of Jesus (doulos), a
term applied to his followers elsewhere in the book. And in Revelation,
they are also described as the “saints,” the “churches,” those
who have the “testimony of Jesus,” the “brethren,” and those who
“follow the Lamb wherever he goes” - (Revelation 2:20, 7:3, 12:17,
13:7).
Even
more explicit is John’s salutation to his audience - “to the seven churches
in Asia.”
At
the outset of his first vision, Jesus commanded him to write down all that he
saw and to send it to the churches at “Ephesus, Smyrna, Pergamum, Thyatira, Sardis,
Philadelphia, and Laodicea,” seven first-century congregations located in the
key cities of the Roman proconsular province of Asia.
The things that
must come to pass will occur “soon,” and that means from the perspective
of the book’s recipients. “Soon” is not a very precise term, but these
first-century congregations certainly would not have understood it to mean
twenty centuries or more in their future.
IMMINENT EVENTS
The
book presents the “things that must come to pass soon,” and this summarizes
its contents. The phrase alludes to a passage from the book of Daniel when
the prophet interpreted the troubling dream of King Nebuchadnezzar. As Daniel
proclaimed to the Babylonian ruler:
- (Daniel 2:28) - “There is a God in heaven that reveals mysteries and made known to King Nebuchadnezzar what things must come to pass (ha dei genesthai) in later days.”
When
alluding to Old Testament passages, Revelation uses the Greek Septuagint
translation of the Hebrew Bible, and in it, the Greek clause from Daniel
reads ‘ha dei genesthai,’ the exact same clause found in the Greek text
of Revelation’s first verse:
- (Revelation 1:1) - “Revelation of Jesus Christ, which God gave him to show to his servants what things must come to pass (ha dei genesthai) soon.”
The
same phrase is reiterated at key points in the book. For example, when John saw
the glorified “son of man” he heard Jesus command him to write down all
that he saw, the “things that are, and WHAT THINGS WILL COME TO PASS
after these things.”
At the start of
his second vision, John was summoned to “come up here,” where he saw “what things must come to pass after these
things” - (Revelation 1:19, 4:1, 17:1, 21:9).
But
John was not simply quoting Daniel word-for-word. What was expected by
Daniel in “later days” is changed to “soon” in Revelation.
For John and his audience, the expected time of fulfillment is now at hand. This
understanding is confirmed in verse 3 when it states that the “season is
near” - (Daniel 12:4, Revelation 1:3, 22:7-10).
Thus, what for Daniel was expected “in later days” is now imminent for the “churches of Asia.”
Similarly,
Daniel was told to “seal the book until the season of the end,” yet in Revelation,
Jesus declares a “blessing” on all who read and heed the book because the
“season is at hand.” This understanding is confirmed in the book’s epilogue:
- (Revelation 22:7) - “Seal not the words of the prophecy of this book, for the season is at hand” - (Compare - Daniel 12:4).
THE SCROLL IS UNSEALED
In
the twelfth chapter of Daniel, the prophet was instructed to “seal
the book until the season of the end.” In contrast, John is instructed NOT
to seal the book because the “season” of fulfillment is imminent. Thus,
what was “sealed” in Daniel is UNSEALED in Revelation.
Thus,
the book of Revelation discloses “what things must come to pass soon,”
and how they will impact the “servants” of Jesus, and that certainly
includes the “churches of Asia.” This does not mean its visions were
only applicable to those seven churches in the first century, or that their
experiences exhausted its predictions.
But
it most certainly does mean these congregations are included in the book’s warnings
and promises, and any interpretation that makes them irrelevant to its visions
and predictions has gone awry.
Thus,
in the visions of John, the things that Daniel predicted for a remote
future and presented in a veiled form are disclosed and put into motion by
Jesus on behalf of his saints. In his death and resurrection, the season of
fulfillment dawned, and now, today, it is well underway.
