The Cradle, the Cross, and the Crown (189 page)

Believers in Sardis and Laodicea were also experiencing internal spiritual turmoil due to their complacency, materialism, and self-sufficiency. External conflict in Smyrna apparently arose from the Jewish community (2:9).
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Their suffering related to unspecified tribulations, poverty,
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and slander from Jews
(blasphēmia).
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The forensic nature of this slander is confirmed by the reference to future imprisonment (2:10). Jewish hostilities against Christians in the form of legal denunciation commonly occurred in the early church.
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As a legally sanctioned religion, the Jewish communities benefited from legal sanctions, and pagans may have grouped Christians together with Jews.
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Consequently, Jewish leaders made a concerted effort, especially after the year 70, to denounce Christians before the magistrates.
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The situation for Christians in Smyrna paralleled what was happening in Philadelphia (3:8—9). In both cities, the Christians were poor, few in number, and faced intentional, religious, and legal opposition from Jews who sought to decimate their existence.

In the city of Pergamum, external opposition against the Christians resulted in the death of Antipas (2:13). At some point in the recent past this man had been killed because of his faithfulness to Christ. The lack of details about the situation implies that it must have been common knowledge among the believers in that city. The only possible clue to reconstruct what may have happened to Antipas is the reference to Pergamum as the place
where Satan ruled and lived.
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Antipas's death most likely resulted from the unjust verdict of Pergamum's proconsul who condemned him because he refused to deny Christ when on trial.
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The references to the “double-edged sword” and the “throne” (2:12—13 NIV) may allude to the judicial authority and official seat of the city's magistrate.
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The Christians at Pergamum were reminded that Christ, not the proconsul, wielded ultimate judicial authority. Since Satan is the chief adversary of the people of God, one wonders how a judicial verdict against a faithful Christian warranted the identification of Pergamum as the location of “Satan's throne.” Apparently, Satan wielded so much authority in Pergamum that Christians were denied justice and faced punishment rendered by the proconsul who acted on Satan's behalf.

The dominant culture was steeped in Greco-Roman paganism with its plethora of gods, goddesses, and temples. Christians represented a religious group that penetrated every level of society and consisted of both Jews and Gentiles. They were tenacious monotheists who refused to participate in local trade guilds or any other common pagan ritual, including participation in the imperial cult. The imperial cult had existed as part of Asia Minor's religious climate ever since the time of Augustus.
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Pergamum hosted the very first temple dedicated to Augustus and the goddess Roma for the entire province of Asia beginning in 29 BC and remained active well past the reign of Hadrian.
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During the reign ofTiberius, the cities of Sardis and Smyrna competed for the right to host a second provincial imperial cult in Asia, which was won by Smyrna in AD 26.
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During the reign of Domitian, the city of Ephesus erected an unprecedented third imperial temple in Asia Minor (89/90).
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Some estimates attest to more than 80 smaller localized imperial temples in more than 60 cities in Asia Minor.
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The cult functioned politically to express just how grateful and loyal the provinces were to the emperor, using religious conventions for political purposes.
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From its inception, the emperor, along with the goddess Roma, was worshipped and honored for his benevolence toward the provinces.

The imperial cult, however, was much more than a mere political tool; participants actually worshipped the emperor as divine.
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Inscriptional evidence demonstrates that the emperors Augustus and Caligula were considered gods. The use of the term
theos
(“god”), although rare, attests to the fact that worshippers esteemed emperors by elevating them to a status far above regular mortals. Often emperors were so closely associated with patron deities that the worshippers made no distinction between them.
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The cult employed all the trappings and paraphernalia of rituals common to any religious practice. Images of the emperor or his family members greeted worshippers in the form of massive statues.
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Some of these images included mechanisms to mimic lightning and thunder, reinforcing the emperor's identification with Jupiter.
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Adherents offered prayers to these statues and sometimes carried smaller pocket-sized statues of imperial figures.
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Scholars who diminish the significance of the imperial cult as something purely political have imposed a modern conception of a separation between the secular and the sacred. Those who lived in a polytheistic culture easily adopted the imperial cult into their pantheon of gods and divine beings.

Conflict with the imperial cult in Revelation can hardly be ignored.
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There are what appear to be frequent references to the imperial cult in the latter half of the second vision
(13:4,15-16; 14:9-11; 15:2; 16:2; see 20:4). John envisioned a time when worship of a ruler would escalate to a point of mandatory participation by all inhabitants of the earth.
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Significantly, the term
proskyneō
(“worship”), used in direct connection with the beast (13:4,8,12,15), was also a term commonly found in the imperial cult.
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Thus Christians abhorred the imperial cult as idolatry, which was doubly evil due to the political ramifications associated with it.
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Christians refusing to bow down in worship to the beast would incur his wrath and be summarily executed (13:15).
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Nevertheless, believers are exhorted to remain faithful and true to Christ even if this means death (2:10,13; 13:10; 14:12; 17:14). God will vindicate them by judging all those who worshipped the beast (14:9, 11; 16:2). The book of Revelation strongly promotes abstinence from all forms of idolatry because God is the only one worthy of worship (4:11; 5:2,4,9,12). He receives worship from all the heavenly hosts (4:10; 5:14; 7:11; 11:16; 19:4). Exclusive worship of God constitutes the major theological imperative for Christians as well as for all humanity (9:20; 14:7; 15:4; 19:10; 22:9). If believers were accused by a legal adversary and tried for their faith, it was more than likely that obeisance to the emperor became a standard foil by which to determine guilt.

While the local religious and political climate of each city varied, John, as one who experienced unjust exile, wrote to believers facing similar injustice. Believers might succumb to despair over the triumph of a corrupt justice system that condemns the innocent simply because of their Christian faith. But John's vision assuages these fears by depicting the eventual reversal of these travesties of justice. This concern for vindication is voiced by the martyred souls at the altar (6:9—11; 16:7). Revelation describes Jesus as wielding ultimate judicial authority and as the one who is worthy to unleash God's wrath upon impenitent humanity (1:12-20; 5:2-4; see John 5:17-29). To be sure, Christ first investigates his churches, holding them accountable for their sins but also promising to reward their faithfulness (chaps. 2—3). Chapters 6—16 present a series of judgments confirming humanity's guilt and the justice of God's verdicts (9:20-21; 16:9-11). In chaps. 17-18, the prostitute Babylon, because of her crimes against believers, is declared guilty and summarily executed. Christ will return as the conquering supreme King and Lord brandishing the sword of God's justice (19:11—15). No matter what fate Christians might have endured under unjust judges, they will one day reign with Christ and help execute the judgment of
the nations (20:4).
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Thus the intended purpose is to comfort the weary and oppressed, to fortify faithfulness and endurance, and to cleanse the churches from heresy and compromise by depicting the heavenly reality of Jesus as the glorified judge and all the events surrounding his return to establish his kingdom on earth.

LITERATURE

Genre

The very word
apocalypse
conjures up a myriad of images. Scholars typically distinguish between (1) “apocalypse”; (2) “apocalyptic”; and (3) “apocalypticism.”
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Apocalypse
refers to a particular genre of literature written between approximately 200 BC and AD 200.
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The adjective
apocalyptic
is used when describing either the literary genre or the worldview.
Apocalypticism
denotes a worldview, ideology, or theology merging the eschatological aims of particular groups into a cosmic and political arena.
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The development of the definition for the apocalyptic genre has a long and complex history.147 Early studies identified formal features such as pseudonymity, visionary accounts, and historical reviews as well as exhibiting a content expressing a doctrine of two ages, pessimism and hope, universalism, and imminent expectation of the end.
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In 1979 J. J. Collins and other scholars developed the following classic definition:

“Apocalypse” 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.
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This definition emphasizes the form as a narrative framework involving an otherworldly mediator and the content as containing both temporal (eschatological salvation) and spatial (supernatural world) elements. But this definition lacks any reference to the
func
tion
of an apocalypse. For this reason a subsequent study group, led by A. Y. Collins, D. Hellholm, and D. E. Aune, added an amendment in 1986, stating that an apocalypse is “intended to interpret present, earthly circumstances in light of the supernatural world and of the future, and to influence the understanding and behavior of the audience by means of divine authority.”
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This amended definition of the apocalyptic genre pertains to its form, content, and function.
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The apocalyptic genre exhibits several formal features that include visionary accounts, otherworldly mediators, and symbolic language. The apocalyptic genre also expresses content depicting temporal and spatial realities as a way to emphasize the heavenly realities and devalue earthly circumstances. Finally, the apocalyptic genre functions to encourage piety and faithfulness in the midst of suffering or during times of crisis (whether real or perceived).

These definitions broadly encompass all canonical, extrabiblical, rabbinical, and sectarian examples of apocalyptic literature. Not all apocalyptic writings necessarily exhibit every genre characteristic discussed in the above definition.
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This warrants the need to posit a scaled-down assessment of essential elements attributed to the apocalyptic genre. The first essential element is that an apocalypse comprises a visionary or revelatory means of communication. Apocalyptic literature must reveal some heavenly or spiritual reality through the agency of a seer or a prophet. Usually the vision is given in the first-person singular and expressed in a narrative framework. In addition, apocalyptic communication frequently employs the use of divine or angelic intermediaries as guides and interpreters. Embedded within this revelatory communication are prophetic exhortations for desired behaviors, choices, and responses from the recipients. Nonessential elements include pseudonymity and historical reviews (often written in predictive form).

Second, apocalyptic literature is saturated with symbolic, figurative, and metaphorical language. Symbols and other figures constitute the common stock of apocalyptic writing. Human and angelic beings and animals serve as symbolic representations of spiritual truths. Symbolic imagery may express historical, contemporary, or future events in cosmic terms. By using metaphors when describing cosmic scenarios, the author invested both current and anticipated earthly events with symbolic meaning.
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Apocalyptic language may use symbols as metaphors for the purpose of referring to concrete objects or events as well as abstract ideas. For example, the opening vision of Revelation depicts Jesus standing in the midst of seven lampstands. These golden lamp-stands most likely resemble the lampstand
(menorah)
in the Jewish temple. In the present case, the lampstands symbolically represent the seven churches of Asia Minor (1:20). In
addition, the description of Jesus and his clothing is reminiscent of the garments worn by the Jewish high priest. Thus one may reasonably infer that Jesus actively tends to his churches in a manner similar to the high priest ministering in the temple.

A final element essential to the apocalyptic genre is the dualism between earthly and heavenly realities, usually steeped in eschatological significance. Earthly situations are depicted as temporary and transitory in light of the eternal realities of the spiritual world. This heavenly perspective dramatically contrasts the worldly scenarios facing the recipients. Although some downplay the eschatological nature of the visions,
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apocalyptic literature provides a provocative and effective vehicle for communicating end-time expectations.
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The beliefs that God is sovereign over history and will radically intervene in the near future to consummate his plans for all creation permeate most apocalyptic writings.

The arrival of Jesus the Messiah “in the fullness of time” indicated that certain eschatological expectations had come to fruition. Jesus announced the nearness and even (partial) arrival of the kingdom of God (Mark 1:15; Luke 11:20).
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The presence of God's kingdom suggests the eschatological fulfillment of the prophetic promises regarding the son of David, the restoration of Israel, and the renewal of creation. Jesus inaugurated the
eschaton
(end time) with his resurrection followed by the outpouring of the Holy Spirit, but believers still expect a time of final consummation at the end of the age. This time between the ages is commonly viewed as the “already” and “not yet” of God's eschatological fulfillment. In this regard, the NT shares affinities with an apocalyptic worldview.