Don't Know Much About the Bible - Kenneth C. Davis [184]
The date of Revelation is crucial to understanding the book’s strange symbolism. Like his predecessor Nero, twenty years earlier, Domitian insisted on the divinity of the imperial line and worship of the emperor was required during his reign. Domitian persecuted Christians who refused to worship him, but he apparently did not dream up novel outrages with the perverse gusto that Nero brought to the task. Like his perverse predecessor Caligula, Nero had elevated excessive behavior to an insane art. Convinced of his divinity, he spared no expense. He was transported everywhere in a caravan of one thousand carriages pulled by mules shod in silver. He fancied himself a chariot racer and appeared in the races. He went wild at the betting tables. His sexual excesses were even worse. His incestuous relationship with his mother Agrippina was an open secret, and a “marriage” to a man was performed in public.
Being a follower of Christ in Nero’s day was no picnic. Tales of what Rome might have in store for Christians must have still been fresh in the minds of the members of the early church. The Roman historian Tacitus (c. 56-115 CE) wrote one of the few contemporary accounts of the fate of Rome’s Christians:
To dispel the rumor [that he had started the Great Fire] Nero put into the dock instead the group whom the man in the street detested for their vices and nicknamed “Christians,” finding highly recondite punishments for them. The name originated with one Christus, executed on the authority of the governor Pontius Pilate during Tiberius’ reign…. Their execution was accompanied by mockery. They were sewn up in animal skins to be torn to death by hounds, or set on crosses, or prepared for the brand and burned to give light in the darkness when day-light faded. Nero had opened his private gardens for the spectacle, and offered an exhibition in the circus, mixing with the crowd in a charioteer’s uniform or riding in a chariot.
When John wrote, Christians heard rumors that Nero, who had committed suicide, was still alive. He was thought to be preparing to return to Rome and retake his throne with a vengeful army. Against this background of persecution and paranoia, John spun out his vision of a coming Judgment Day.
PLOT SUMMARY: THE APOCALYPSE
In a dreamlike vision, the author sees a great sacrificial Lamb with seven horns and seven eyes. The Lamb receives a scroll from God and begins to break its seven seals.
The First Four Seals
Four horsemen ride out. The first is on a white horse, an all conquering power; the second is on a red horse, whose rider takes peace from the earth; the third rides a black horse and carries scales, symbolizing the famine that follows war; and finally a pale green horse whose rider’s name is Death. The four are given authority over the earth to kill with sword, famine, pestilence, and wild animals.
The Fifth Seal
raises the dead martyrs who are given white robes and told to rest a little longer.
The Sixth Seal
brings a great earthquake and cosmic catastrophes. The sun darkens and the moon turns red; the stars fall from the skies.
The Seventh Seal
there is silence in heaven for half an hour.
Then seven angels blow their trumpets in sequence. The first five blasts bring destruction on the earth; the sixth signals that four angels who had been held ready are released to kill “a third of mankind”; the seventh trumpet blast joins heaven together with what remains of earth. Heavenly voices sing:
“The kingdom of the world has become the kingdom of our Lord and his Messiah, and he will reign forever and ever.”
Once again, as with Isaiah, this provides pretty good lyrics for Handel