The book of Revelation is amazing
for many reasons. I have a somewhat recent re-infatuation with its content
based off of a few points. The first is this; there are some Christians wholly
obsessed with eschatological details, and each one of these varying groups feel
they have a good working and realistic understanding of the pictures, symbols
and metaphors reflected in this apocalyptic piece of literature. I too had a “working
understanding” of this book in relation to its “mysteries” until I realized how
Jewish it was. It wasn’t until I realized that this revelation is rooted in the Torah, Nevi’im and Ketuvim,that
its message started to have an amazing amount of relevance to the rest of
Scripture. So much of the imagery recorded for us by the writer
is taken from these other divisions of the Hebrew Scriptures specifically in
the tradition of the Hebrew Prophets of Israel.
The second reason I have a
rekindled love affair with this book is due to the theme which predominately
carries through the entirety of the book itself; that being the Heavenly
Council/Court/Assembly of God.
The Hebrew Scriptures make
reference to this phenomenon often and assume familiarity by its readers
because of the extreme relevance in communication from God, His entourage/host,
ministering spirits and His
declaration about His Holy Habitation.
It is very intimately connected to the Temple/Tabernacle and even with the
Garden of God in Eden from the early parts of Genesis where God and man’s
habitations co-existed in intimacy.
The writer of Revelation (in the tradition of Prophets)
finds himself in the court/outer court of the habitation of God, which is
always the Temple.
The reason I bring this up is
because in the place where God dwells, there is frequent reference to the
implements of worship represented by the physical utensils found in the earthly
representation of the Heavenly Temple/Tabernacle.
For instance, in the Apocalypse of Baruch (Baruch III), it is stated that in
the “Heavenly Jerusalem and the Temple…the altar is built there, and Michael
offers sacrifice upon it.”
Isaiah in his vision in chapter 6 “saw
the Lord sitting on a throne, lofty and exalted, with the train of His robe
filling the temple.” This is a prime example of how the courtroom of the
Most High and the Temple are synonymous. These examples could be multiplied,
but here are a couple corresponding texts to make my point about Revelation: Rev 7 I looked, and behold, a great multitude, which no one could count, from
every nation and all tribes and peoples and tongues, standing before the throne…Salvation to our God who sits on the
throne…all the angels were standing around the throne and around the elders and
the four living creatures...they are before the throne of God; and they serve
Him day and night in His temple; and He who sits on the throne shall spread His
tabernacle over them.” Here is a picture of the throne being the Temple. Revelation 11 details the measuring of
the Temple (as did Ezekiel). Revelation
11 also lets us in on the fact that the Ark is seen in God’s Temple.
This of course corresponds to yom kippur
which is mentioned just after the seventh angel sounds his shofar. This event
is also known as the “last trumpet”.
In Revelation 14 we are given a surprising piece of information. Jesus
had told his followers that the angels were the reapers when it came to “bringing in the harvest at the end of the
age”.
Jesus also revealed that no one knows when that “time” will come, only the
Father knows.
Another detail that was provided by “angels” is that the Messiah’s return is
going to be like his ascension, with a “cloud”.
We know that he is going to come
with the authority of the Father (his God) and with the angels.
This is also spoken of in the book of Enoch,
and referenced in Jude 14, the “Lord came with many thousands of His holy
ones.” So when Revelation tells us that there was “a white cloud, and sitting on the cloud was one like a son of man,
having a golden crown on His head, and a sharp sickle in His hand,” what
should we make of it? Who is the/this “son of man”? It does not end there. Next,
we find that an “angel came out of the
temple, crying out with a loud voice to Him who sat on the cloud, ‘Put in your
sickle and reap, because the hour to reap has come, because the harvest of the
earth is ripe.’"
As to the logistics of what just
happened; a “son of man” sat on the cloud apparently waiting for the command to
“reap with his sickle”. An angel (which is a messenger) came out of the Temple
with the “word” or “command”. Who is in the Temple? God, the Father, Yahweh of
course. So then “He who sat on the cloud
swung His sickle over the earth; and the earth was reaped. And another angel
came out of the temple which is in heaven, and he also had a sharp sickle.”
It is just as all the prophecies and even the words of the Messiah himself
revealed. It was God’s authority carried out of the Temple, through angels
(ministering spirits) and the “son of man” himself.
In Revelation 15 we see the “Temple is opened” and “angels”
on a mission are being dispatched for action, which is how it’s always been.
This theme is prevalent all through the Hebrew Scriptures. In chapter 16 we hear “a loud voice from the temple,” twice.
Everything in the real Temple of
God
is far greatly animated than that which is in the earthly representation. For
instance, in Chapter 9 we are told
that a voice came from the “four horns” of the altar. God dwells in the Most Holy
place (Holy of Holies), and the altars are always in front of that place
(directly to the east actually), so it is no surprise when the writer reports,
“I heard a voice from the four horns of
the golden altar
which is before God…saying…release the four angels who are bound at the
great river Euphrates.” This is fascinating! At this point, I am not going
to write about what is being said, although it may be of interest to note that
the “four horns” make reference to
“four angels”.
The altar is very significant in
the Temple, and has quite a history among the people of God and the pagan
societies through the ages. There are two images I would like to give you.
The first image is in reference to
what Christians have grown accustomed to acquainting with “hell”. My point here
is not to embark on an in-depth investigation of the Christian doctrine of
hell, but I would like to draw on some Temple images that may give us some
further insights.
As I have already pointed out, the
Temple imagery is predominant all though the Scriptures. Some of the
terminology used commonly today in relation to soteriological matters derive
precisely from Temple symbology. For instance, we are accustomed to calling
Jesus our “lamb”. We do this because the Scriptures call him the lamb, do we not? Why does this have
significance? Its significance comes right out of the Temple shadows and types.
We see him as God’s provision for the people.
It corresponds not only to the Passover, but many other festivals as well, including
yom kippur (Day of Atonement) with
its scapegoat and the daily sacrifices. Most would readily and heartily agree
that the Scriptures point us to Jesus as our “atonement”. The stage is set for
us very early in fact, in Genesis 22
when the befuddled Isaac asks his father about the sacrifice and the prophetic
Abraham responds, “God will provide for
Himself the lamb for the burnt offering”. The writer of Revelation also
continues this same metaphor when he references the “Lamb slain from the foundation of the world.”
There is no point in making a connection to a “sacrifice” without the
implements of the sacrifice; the altar. The point of the whole picture is that
the lamb of God is sacrificed upon
the altar of God for the atonement of all humanity, carried out by the ministering
“attendants” or “angels” in the very presence of God. In the first century A.D.,
it looked like a very bloody, bruised, torn and beaten thirty year old man
hanging on an implement of Roman brutality, paying for treason against imperial
Rome and betrayed by his own kinsman. But what was more real, that which took place before the Throne of God (of which
all physical manifestations follow) in His Temple upon that great altar or the
crucifixion of Jesus the Nazarene at the hands of Roman soldiers for crimes
against the state? The picture is of God reconciling
all things to Himself.
Jesus in one sense became the sacrifice upon
that altar so that we don’t have to. The picture of “hell” in this same Temple
imagery is that if we fail to accept the sacrifice offered by God on our behalf
(Jesus as His lamb),
we ourselves will be flung onto that very altar in front of His throne as our
own sacrifice, to be incinerated and sent up in smoke creating that sweet aroma
spoken of in the Scriptures.
There is absolutely no room here for “eternal torment” in the traditional view
of “hell”. Jesus’ life was extinguished, he was dead. If God would not have
intervened and raised him from the dead, he would still be dead. If not, there
would be no point in stressing resurrection as the NT writers all do. It comes
down to a very simplistic statement; the only alternative to life is death. The
opposite of eternal life is not eternal death;
that is an oxymoron. The opposite of eternal life is total annihilation. When
sacrifices were offered as “burnt” offerings, the point was in them being
consumed; nothing was left. We can find many examples where the Fire of God consumes a sacrifice, even to the point of being told that God Himself is a Consuming Fire.
They were utterly and completely destroyed. The smoke may have continued to go
up for a while, or even forever, but that is different.
With everything we have discussed
up to this point, we are now ready to view the second image of the altar, which
starts (with no surprise) in the Torah and continues on into the Writings. In
the discussion of the immortality or better said, mortality of the soul, is a passage often used as a proof text
for the supposed doctrine of immortality, which comes out of Revelation as
well. Everything I have shown about Revelation’s use of the Temple/Tabernacle
imagery is connected to this last picture.
In Exodus 27,
Moses is given the details for the all important altar in service to the God of
Israel, depicting a reality unseen in the physical world, a reality that had
been at work since before the universe began. Included in the details were four
horns, which were to be positioned on the four corners of this altar. They were
to be overlaid with bronze,
and directly attached as one piece with the altar itself. There are many
interpretations as to what these horns may represent, and like many things in the
Scriptures, there are multiple pictures and metaphors to be learned, not
necessarily just one.
One thing is for sure; it was very strongly stressed that the blood of the
offering was to adorn these horns come sacrificial time. The priest was to take
some of the blood of the animal sacrifice, “and
put it on the horns of the altar with your finger; and you shall pour out all
the blood at the base of the altar.”
These are the original details
concerning the horns. These horns were definitely a representation of God’s
governing hand, as seen in their relation to the angels at the four corners in
Revelation and the Prophets.
What’s also interesting about the horns in the Scriptures is that they are
usually symbols of power and might. Even in other writings, such as The
Testament of Joseph from the Pseudepigraphal work of the Testaments of the
Twelve Patriarchs, dated to the second century B.C., contains the following
relating to “among the horns”: “And I saw
[in the midst of the horns] that [from Judah was born] a virgin [wearing a
linen garment, and from her] was born a lamb, [without spot]; and on his left
hand there was as it were a lion; and all the beasts rushed against him, and
the lamb overcame them, and destroyed them and trod them under foot. And
because of him the angels and men rejoiced, and all the land. And these things
shall come to pass in their season, in the last days. Do
ye therefore, my children, observe the commandments of the Lord, and honour
Levi and Judah; for from them shall arise ⌈unto you⌉ [the Lamb of
God, who taketh away the sin of the world] one who sayeth [all the Gentiles
and] Israel. Similarly,
the Maccabees are symbolized as “horned lambs” in 1 Enoch 90:9.
In the Torah we find “cities of refuge,”
where an accused one could escape unjust retribution on his head. The guilty
party would be able to escape to one of these cities if it was not intentional
murder.
Although not directly stated in the Torah, through the years (perhaps from the
natural imagery of what the Hebrews saw in them), the horns also became a
refuge for asylum and salvation. It becomes all the more interesting through
the course of Messianic prophecy and writing that we find our very Messiah Jesus
interpreted as being the “horn of our salvation”.
In the writings we are given a
couple examples of this idea of refuge sought from the horns of the altar. In 1 Kings 1:50-53, Solomon’s adversarial
half brother Adonijah is afraid of him because of the attempted usurping of his
throne. Through the course of events, the text records, “Adonijah is afraid of King Solomon, for behold, he has taken hold of
the horns of the altar, saying, 'Let King Solomon swear to me today that he
will not put his servant to death with the sword.’” He was then brought
before King Solomon for judgment, and for the moment his life was spared.
The other occasion is also in the
book of 1 Kings, in the very next
chapter in fact. Here we have a different perspective. After Adonijah’s death
(for refusing to take no for an answer), we find that Joab (who was an
accomplice of Adonijah) “fled to the tent
of the LORD and took hold of the horns of the altar.” In that particular passage we find the
same reality connected with the “cities of refuge”; a willful murderer has no
salvation from the horns (or in the city of refuge). Solomon’s instructions
were to “Go, fall upon him [with the
sword]." Joab knew this well, for when the Kings’s emissary approached and
declared, “Thus the king has said, 'Come
out.'" But he said, "No, for I will die here.” Word was brought
back to Solomon, to which he then responded, “Do as he has spoken and fall upon him and bury him, that you may remove
from me and from my father's house the blood which Joab shed without cause. The
LORD will return his blood on his own head, because he fell upon two men more
righteous and better than he and killed them with the sword…”
With that thought in mind, we reach
the verse in Revelation for which I have been building a foundation. In Revelation 6 it says, “When the Lamb broke the fifth seal, I saw
underneath the altar the souls of those who had been slain [slaughtered]
because of the word of God, and because of the testimony which they had
maintained; and they cried out with a loud voice, saying, "How long, O
Lord, holy and true, will You refrain from judging and avenging our blood on
those who dwell on the earth?" And there was given to each of them a white
robe; and they were told that they should rest for a little while longer, until
the number of their fellow servants and their brethren who were to be killed
even as they had been, would be completed also.”
There are a few elements of
possibility in this particular passage. First, there is a certain aspect of the
“souls” that have been martyred are as “sacrifices” to God. Paul uses this type
of language in Romans 12 when he
says, “present your bodies a living and
holy sacrifice, acceptable to God, which is your spiritual service of worship.”
There are other bodies of rabbinic, apocryphal and pseudepigraphal literature
that go along these same lines. These ones are slain or slaughtered for reasons
that only God, in His divine plan, knows. In the picture, they are offered up,
and their blood is thrown against the side of the altar. I don’t think this is
the biggest picture we find in this passage, but I won’t say there isn’t an
essence of it seen here. Again, it’s meant to correspond to the pictures and
metaphors given to us by God in the Tanakh, not with which to build a doctrine
or a systematized theological strand. “What do I mean if I say referring
to Messiah’s death as sacrifice is a metaphor? The meaning of a metaphor should
be sought in what one thing has in common with another. No metaphor is perfect.
Things and events used in a metaphor are always both like and unlike what they
are compared to. McKnight quotes the words of G.B. Caird, ‘Metaphor is a lens;
it is as though the speaker were saying, ‘Look through this and see what I have
seen, something you never would have noticed without the lens!’”
Secondly, we find in this passage, through
the perspective of this Hebraic minded writer, a thread that goes back to something
Jesus himself said. Jesus had made mention, that on his generation would “fall the guilt of all the righteous blood
shed on earth, from the blood of righteous Abel to the blood of Zechariah, the
son of Berechiah, whom you murdered between the temple and the altar.”
Jesus said that Abel was righteous. If we take a peek back at the original
context, I think we may find somewhat of a surprise. God was not pleased with
Cain’s offering, but was with Abel’s. Gen 4:8-10
“And it came about when they were in the
field, that Cain rose up against Abel his brother and killed him. Then the LORD
said to Cain, "Where is Abel your brother?" And he said, "I do
not know. Am I my brother's keeper?" He said, "What have you done?” This very next part is the key. “The voice of your brother's blood is crying
to Me from the ground.” Was the
blood really crying out to God, or was it justice and recompense by the only
one worthy to do so, that was being demanded?
Likewise, the writer of Hebrews also picks up on the same thing, “by faith Abel offered to God a better
sacrifice than Cain, through which he obtained the testimony that he was
righteous, God testifying about his gifts, and through faith, though he is
dead, he still speaks.”
Here is the third and final aspect
I will share about this passage. I spent some time following the progression of
the horns of the altar, from the Hebrew Scripture’s description and usage. When
someone refers to the altar, the horns are also a natural part of it (all being
made of one piece, not a separate entity).
Revelation specifically references
that those “souls” under the altar are waiting and crying for justice,
retribution and vengeance. I don’t think that it’s too much of a stretch in
this picture to suggest that the writer of Revelation wants us to see these “souls”
(although in the ground and awaiting the time of resurrection)
as innocent victims, clinging to the horns of the altar. Remembering that Jesus
himself is a picture of the horns, it completely fits this paradigm. And for
the critic who may bring up the “mixing of metaphors” (Jesus being the horns
and sacrifice?), I would also remind you that the Biblical writers did the
exact same thing. If that is the criterion, how can one be a priest and the
offering at the same time? We need to be careful not to try and carry a picture
or image further than the author intended; it is there to show us something.
The intent of this passage in particular, was not to try and develop a doctrine
of “heaven” (where-in the saints dwell until the return of Messiah), but to
show that justice awaits the King’s decree.
There is no inherent theme of immortal, disembodied souls waiting for the final
showdown to be reunited with an immortal body - that is a subject completely
absent from the Scriptural narrative.
Conclusion
There are those who would take
certain texts, such as those investigated in this essay, and try to bolster the
doctrines brought to us through Socratic and Platonic philosophy, and
introduced into Christianity via the early church father Tertullian.
The Hebrews have always used picture, symbolic, idiomatic and metaphorical
language to describe certain realities; we have seen that. The Scriptures were
written by Hebrew people, and as such, it reflects their literary techniques
and attributes. With that being the case, it is only through this framework that
the original message and intention of the author can be achieved. All else is
to lose the message.
Communication is what it is all about.
God chose this Semitic worldview to be the avenue by which He would reveal His
story of Glory, and ultimate redemption of humanity. We as westerners tend
toward grasping onto the metaphors, pictures or symbols themselves, instead of
the reality they are attempting to convey. As I have stated numerous times,
part of the problem lies in not knowing the story well enough to realize where
the authors are getting their context. We need to continually come to a
stronger realization that “It’s In The Text.”
Pseudepigrapha of the Old
Testament. 2004 (R. H. Charles, Ed.) (2:353)
