Overview of Commentary
Before looking into my Commentary, it may be helpful to the reader to get an overview in order to see the broad outlines and main features as they are interrelated. The Book of Revelation can not be understood as a medley of unrelated, disconnected passages. It has coherence, continuity, consistency and cohesiveness. Not until I had studied, researched and meditated upon these Scriptures did I finally come to see its unity with the majestic sweep of the entire Bible. Briefly, the account of God’s revelation of Himself to Mankind brought the Old Testament to the predictions of Daniel concerning the end of the fleshly nation of Israel, its City and its people, (Daniel 9:24-27). The New Testament shows the fulfillment of this vision and its culmination in the glorious reign of Jesus Christ as the Israel of God and the revelation of the Church as His Body. This Overview will only present some of these broad outlines and main features; the Commentary will develop these along with evidence of their validity for the interpretation of the book of Revelation.
Viewpoint
Since the book was written: (1) in the first century AD; (2) to God’s servants; (3) about things that were to shortly come to pass, we must interpret it from the viewpoint of those servants. We must ask the question: “What would this have meant to the Christians to whom it was originally written?” To answer that question we must examine the context of the times and ideas in which they lived. For this reason, I have entitled the entire work Revelation in Context.
Context
The most relevant and immediate context for the book of Revelation is the Bible of which it is an organic part. We must remember that the “Bible” for the Jews who had not accepted the Gospel was the Old Testament. For those who had accepted the Gospel, the New Testament writings were also Biblical and were written to interpret the Old Testament in the light of Christ. Perhaps the most relevant book of the Old Testament for the context of the book of Revelation is the book of Daniel. To be exact, the book of Revelation must be interpreted as the fulfillment of Daniel’s prophecies concerning the end of the Jewish nation, race and Temple, (Daniel 9:24-27 and chapter 12).
Daniel had proven to be a true prophet by the interpretation of Nebuchadnezzar’s dreams and the handwriting on the wall for Belshazzar. By inspiration of the Holy Spirit Daniel had described events that would happen in the Gentile world from his lifetime to the time of the coming of the Messiah. Daniel had been approved of God by his integrity and had been promoted in the courts of the heathen kings under whom he served. Since he had been proven, it was expected that his prophecies of the coming of the Messiah and the end of the Jewish nation, race and temple would also be fulfilled according to the designated time of 490 years and a “time, times and dividing of times”.
Daniel was aware of the fact that God could, would and did set times, for he read in the book of Jeremiah that the Babylonian captivity, of which he was a part, was to be for seventy years. It was the fact that there was a set time, an appointed time, for the end of the captivity and the return of the Jews to their land that caused Daniel to offer the prayer of repentance in behalf of his nation, (Daniel 9:1-19).
This prayer was answered by a visitation of the angel Gabriel. Gabriel’s message was that God would indeed fulfill His word to restore the Jews to their homeland, – there was a decree to rebuild Jerusalem, (9:25), – but the root cause of their problem was sin, and that must yet be dealt with. The people would again go into gross sin, but in 490 years, seventy weeks of years, and a “time, times and dividing of times” the Messiah would come “to finish the transgression, to make an end of sin, to make reconciliation for iniquity, to bring in everlasting righteousness, and to seal up the vision and prophecy and to anoint the Most Holy One, (9:24).”
At the time of the “end” there was to be such great tribulation as the fleshly nation had never known since it had been a nation, and indeed, since it was coming to an end, would never know again. The only ones who would come through that great tribulation with their identity intact was to be those “that shall be found written in the book,” (12:1). These are the Christians as a nation and a people. This very Book of Life is seen in this role in the book of Revelation, (Revelation 3:5; 13:8; 20:12, 15; 21:27; 22:19).
Although Daniel had been granted insight into many mysteries and had the ability to interpret spiritual matters, and even though the angel Gabriel had come to cause him to understand, (9:22), that the fleshly nation, race and Temple were coming to an end, Daniel could not understand, (12:8). Had the angel indeed failed to cause Daniel to understand? No, his understanding was only delayed to “the time of the end”. Daniel was to seal the book, (12:9), go his way and rest, and “stand in thy lot at the end of the days”, (12:13). His understanding was only to be fulfilled at the end of the 490 years plus the “time, times, and dividing of times”, that is, at the appointed time, when the sealed book of Daniel’s prophecy would be opened.
When the New Testament era dawned, the people knew from the book of Daniel that the “end of the Age” was near and so expected the Messiah. By the time of the writing of the book of Revelation, the Messiah had come, the Gospel of His Kingdom had gone throughout the world to the Jewish people, and “the appointed time” had come. It was, therefore, time for the sealed book to be opened and for Daniel to “stand in his place at the end of the days” as was promised.
Daniel in the Prologue
Revelation
In the prologue to the book, (1:1-3), we find reference to Daniel’s role in the Revelation to John. First of all, the word ‘revelation’, Greek apocalypse, evokes the “apocalypse(s)” experienced by Daniel in Daniel 2:19, 22, 28, 29, 30, 47; 10:1; and 11:35. “Apocalypse” means the revelation of a secret. The one “secret” that Daniel never understood is now being revealed in the book of Revelation.
“Must”
Secondly, we see that the “things” about to be revealed are “things which must shortly come to pass”, (Revelation 1:1). In other words, the time has come due. If God is to fulfill his promises to Daniel that were to happen at the “appointed time”, then they must shortly come to pass, else God would be found a liar. “The time is at hand”. To phrase it another way, “the appointed time has arrived”, (Rev. 1:3).
“Angel”
Thirdly, we see that the Revelation is “sent and signified by his angel”, (Rev. 1:1). As we follow this “signifying angel” through the book, as he serves as a guide for John the Revelator, we come finally to the definitive verses concerning his identity in chapter 19, verse 10. He is not the Lord Jesus, Himself; neither is he Gabriel. The angel identifies himself to John as “thy fellowservant, and of they brethren that have the testimony of Jesus.” Who but Daniel would qualify for this role?
In chapter 21, verse 3-4, the mighty angel speaks from heaven:
‘Behold, the tabernacle of God is with men, and he will dwell with them, and they shall be his people, and God Himself shall be with them, and be their God. And God shall wipe away all tears from their eyes; and there shall be no more death, neither sorrow, nor crying, neither shall there be any more pain: for the former things are passed away’.
Here, as the mighty ministering, guiding angel, Daniel has at last understood what Gabriel came to show him many years earlier! This resolves the mystery that had been impossible for Daniel to understand previously.
In 21:15, John says:
And he, [the angel], that talked with me had a golden reed to measure the city, and the gates thereof, and the wall thereof… (v. 17). And he measured the wall thereof an hundred and forty and four cubits, according to the measure of a man, that is, of the angel.
This “angel” was a man! Who else but Daniel would qualify for this role?
Again in chapter 22, verses 6-9, we find further clues as to the identity of this “angel/man”:
And he said unto me, These sayings [are] faithful and true: and the Lord God of the holy prophets sent his angel to shew unto his servants the things which must shortly be done. Behold, I come quickly: blessed [is] he that keepeth the sayings of the prophecy of this book. And 1 John saw these things, and heard [them]. And when I had heard and seen, I fell down to worship before the feet of the angel which shewed me these things. Then saith he unto me, See [thou do it] not: for I am thy fellowservant, and of thy brethren the prophets, and of them which keep the sayings of this book: worship God.
Here it is clearly revealed that the “angel/man” is one of the prophets. When we realize that Daniel was promised that he “would stand in his lot” at the “end of the days”, then we know that this angel/man is Daniel, and that God has made good on His promises to Daniel personally.
Of course, the “end of the Age”, as it is so often referred to in the New Testament, also entails the fulfillment of all the Old Testament prophecies as well as that of Daniel. Indeed, Jesus taught that His own life, ministry and mission fulfilled what was written “in the Law of Moses, and in the prophets, and in the Psalms…” (Luke 24:44). Therefore, the book that is The Revelation of Jesus Christ must somehow show how all of these things are fulfilled. No small order! Seeing the book as the account of the fulfillment of the prophecies given to Daniel gives us a framework for interpreting the book and furnishes the link for continuity between the Old Testament and the New.