The Season is Here
In Revelation, the “last days,” the “season of the end” began with the Death and Resurrection of Jesus – Revelation 1:1-4.
The book of Revelation is the “revelation of Jesus
Christ” for his “servants,” the “seven churches of Asia.” It
concerns “what things must come to pass soon,” information that is vital
because the “season is at hand.” Therefore, “blessed is he who reads,
and they who heed the words of the prophecy.” With the death and resurrection
of Jesus, the last days have commenced.
The book is not intended to
veil information, but to unveil it, and it concerns events that are about to
occur from the perspective of the “churches of Asia.”
Revelation makes prolific use of the Old Testament, especially
passages from the book of Daniel. But it does so with verbal allusions.
It never quotes a verse directly. Instead, John folds phrases from key texts
into his narrative, often modifying specific words to make theological points.
When he does so, he uses the Greek Septuagint translation of
the Hebrew Bible.
- (Revelation 1:1-3) – “Revelation of Jesus Christ, which God gave to him to show his servants what things must come to pass soon, and he showed them by signs, sending through his angel to his servant John, who bore witness as to the word of God, and the testimony of Jesus Christ, whatsoever things he saw. Blessed is he that reads, and they who hear, the words of the prophecy, and keep the things therein written; for the season is near.”
AT HAND
The opening paragraph
provides two examples found in Daniel, and both are employed more than
once in Revelation:
- (Daniel 2:28 [Septuagint]) - “There is a God in heaven that reveals mysteries, and he has made known to the king Nebuchadnezzar what shall be in later days.”
- (Daniel 12:4 [Septuagint]) - “Daniel, shut up the words and seal the book, even to the time of the end.”
The book’s visions concern “what
things must come to pass soon.” In the Greek text, the phrase reads ha
dei genesthai en takei, and the clause en tachei denotes “with
speed, quickly, soon.”
The source of the clause is
Daniel (Septuagint), which reads, “there is a God in heaven
that reveals mysteries (apokaluptōn),…what things must come to pass in
the latter days (ha dei genesthai ep’ eschatōn tōn hémerōn).”
But Revelation changes the original term “latter days” to “soon.” Thus, what was expected previously in a remote future is now at hand, at least for the “churches of Asia.”
The book also declares: The
“season is at hand.” Here, “at hand” represents the Greek term
engus, meaning “near, at hand, imminent, at the door.” It stresses
proximity and imminence. The source of the phrase is the twelfth chapter of Daniel:
- (Daniel 12:4) - “Daniel, shut up the words and seal the book, until the season of the end.”
SEAL NOT THE BOOK
Thus, Daniel was commanded
to “seal” the book until the “season of the end.” In contrast,
John is informed that the “season is at hand,” imminent, if not already underway.
This understanding becomes
clear in the closing passage of Revelation. Unlike Daniel, John was
told NOT to “seal up the words of the prophecy of the book” because
the “season is at hand.” This last passage repeats
the one employed in the opening paragraph of the book - (Revelation 22:10).
Theologically, John is NOT
breaking new ground. The early church believed the “last days” began
with the death and resurrection of Jesus, along with his reign from the
messianic throne.
And this change in eras was
evidenced by the resurrection of Jesus and the outpouring of the Holy Spirit on
all believers - (Acts 2:16-21, Ephesians 1:10, Hebrews 1:1-3).
The events portrayed in Revelation
were set in motion in the first century. What once was expected in a remote
future has commenced. Already, the warnings and promises of the book are applicable
to the “seven churches of Asia.”
That does not mean its
visions were fulfilled completely by the end of the first century, but it does
mean that whatever future events are portrayed in them began almost two
thousand years ago.
The vision that John
received concerns far more than the final few years of history just prior to the
return of Jesus Christ. The “last days,” the “season of the end” started
with his death and resurrection, and the season of fulfillment has been underway
ever since.
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