Notes on Daniel -- Part 13 -- Exegesis
By Jay Rogers
We need to be careful when interpreting Daniel or Revelation in such as way that all scriptural images are used to interpret these books. The original readers of Revelation (the seven churches of Asia Minor) probably did not have access to all three texts of the "little apocalypse" found in Matthew 24, Mark 13 or Luke 21. However, they did hear at least some Gospel account -- oral or written -- and were aware of Jesus' teaching on the destruction of the Temple at Jerusalem. Because the book of Revelation is a letter directed at specific churches, the readers must have had some background information to interpret the symbols. The primary meaning of Revelation is what John intended its hearers to understand it to mean.
This is one reason why I find it unlikely that the application of John's Revelation had much to do with events outside of the first century. While Daniel's prophecy was sealed up until the last days, the meaning of John's prophecy is revealed (hence the title: Apocalypse or Revelation). Daniel's prophecy was written and sealed. Even Daniel did not understand everything he wrote. John's prophecy was written and sent to seven living churches. The hearers were expected to "understand." The hearers were expected to "count the number of the beast" -- and so on.
While some preterists have found a lot of parallels between the Mount Olivet Discourse and Revelation, I think it makes much more sense to first recognize John's use of images from prophecies such as Daniel and Ezekiel. Once we have done that, then it is also good to see how these same images line up with the Gospel account of the Mount Olivet Discourse, whose hearers were also familiar with the Hebrew scriptures. Revelation was written primarily with the Old Testament scriptures in mind. While there is not always a perfect correspondence between the two, the symbols and images are consistent.
We also need to be aware that there are static and fluid images within the prophecy. For instance, the "Lion of the Tribe of Judah" (Rev. 5) turns out to be Christ. This is the only lion in Revelation; but it also appears in Genesis. The dragon is Satan, just as the serpent is the devil in Genesis. These images are static. The woman in chapter 12 is a virgin; but the woman in chapter 17 is a whore. This image is fluid. For the most part, with only a few exceptions, if a symbol is found in the Old Testament, we can assume that John meant it to represent the same thing in his prophecy.
If there is a large degree of correspondence between the beasts of Daniel and the Beast of Revelation, then we should use this correspondence in our interpretation.
It is important to gain a full understanding of Old Testament parallel passages before locking into a static interpretation of the images in Revelation. This is a reason for continuing our discussion/debate of Daniel before proceeding to Revelation.
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