John wrote the Book of Revelation for the Christian communities of the seven major cities of the province of Asia Minor, in what is now Turkey. These were Greek speaking communities and part of the Roman Empire. This was a time of persecution under the emperor Domitian. This was a mixed experience for many Roman Christians. Most of the Christian persecution was an on and off affair with relatively little loss of life. If you didn’t end up on the government’s radar for anything, you could probably go through a period of persecution unscathed. Indeed, if you played your cards right, had the right connections and were living away from an area with active persecution, you might even prosper. You must remember that most of the persecutions of Christian were local affairs arising from local conditions and not empire-wide witch hunts.
Thus, as he wrote, John had three audiences in mind. The first audience was that of the martyrs who were actively being persecuted. They needed encouragement and hope in order to get through a very difficult period. The second audience was made up of Christians who were not under the gun of active persecution and simply wanted to “go along” to “get along” with their neighbors. This part of John’s audience wasn’t faced with violent persecution as much as the challenge of maintaining the integrity of their faith while living in an interreligious world. The third group were Christians whose faith was tepid because they were doing well and weren’t being persecuted. They were local business leaders and quite comfortable in their wealth and position. They were happy to practice their Christian faith, if it didn’t become too intense or uncomfortable. John was concerned also with the integrity of their faith. They seemed blind to the evil which surrounded them and John wanted to wake them up to its reality in their lives.
John delivers the message to the Christian communities of the Near East and then tries to share with them a vison of the reality in which they are participants. He describes the heavenly throne room and how it is ordered. God is at the center. God is surrounded by heavenly creatures, symbolized by the ox, eagle, lion and an angel. This group is surrounded by 24 elders, who throw down their crowns before God.. The elders symbolized Christian leaders. Power, recognition and leadership were nothing to be grasped at among Christians, as they were among the pagans. So, John’s opening vision is offered as a warning to the complacent, reminding them that God doesn’t have the same priorities as does Roman society.
The next vision is that of the Seven Seals. God holds a scroll sealed with seven seals. God looks for someone worthy to open the sealed scroll and read the contents. No one steps forth as worthy for such a task. Then one of the elders suggests that the lion powerful and majestic of Judah is worthy. The reader imagines that Aslan, of Narnia fame, will stride on stage in all his glory and power. Instead of Aslan the reader is presented with an image of a slaughtered lamb. This is the messianic hero but his greatness is not in his physical prowess and military conquests. The lamb is worthy because by the sacrifice of his blood he purchased people of every tribe and nation and made them into a kingdom of priests who serve God. It is the self-sacrificial lamb that is powerful and world transforming.
John presents multiple visions for our consideration. I am not going to analyze each of these visions, though it might help to consider one more vision, that of the seven trumpets. In this vision angels blow trumpets and after each trumpet thunders some catastrophic evil falls upon humanity. We can see humanity hurtling toward doom with each blast of the trumpet. Then the seventh and final trumpet is about to ring out. The end has arrived. The most powerful looking of all the angels descends. Instead of the demands of divine justice being fulfilled in some tremendous show of supernatural power, the angel gives John a scroll to eat and tells him to prophesy. God will communicate with the world through the words of the prophets and people like him. It is the demand of divine mercy that is the basis for God’s final actions. It is a demand that involves all the Christians who are reading or listening to the Apocalypse. It reminds them that they are not merely spectators but are called to be active participants in the drama that is unfolding all around them.
The next section of the Apocalypse considers the problem of evil. The word picture that John presents is that of a dragon, a common symbol for evil in much of Greco-Roman mythology. He presents a spectacular, Star Wars worthy, vision of cosmic conflict between the forces of good and evil in the universe. The goal is to help the reader or listener to understand that the persecution being experienced is not just some local phenomenon but is part of a much broader conflict of cosmic proportions. He then turns to specific images within this broader cosmic vision that speak to specific concerns.
The first image is that of a seven-headed beast rising from the sea. This monster represents evil taking a tangible political form. The seven heads are a direct allusion to Rome, which is constructed on seven hills. John explains that this monster was known for its ability to conquer and had authority over every tribe and people. These are traits that Rome ascribed to itself; a conqueror and a world ruler. John sees Roman power as a violent and predatory beast. Earlier John shows that the true power in the universe is that of the self-sacrificing lamb. This image of the beast with seven heads illustrates the false power that is held in esteem by Rome.
There is also a beast from the land who is something of a clownish figure and resembles Nero, the emperor at the time the Apocalypse was written and a known persecutor of Christians. His role is to distract the people from the horror of the seven-headed beast and make worship of the beast seem almost acceptable. John is speaking to the “go along” to “get along” crowd and the complacent Christians who accept aspects of the Roman Empire as beneficial. John is trying to make them aware that the empire is constructed on the blood of the innocent and that its basic premise is flawed and corrupt.
The first image we have confronted is that of the beasts from the land and the sea. The second image is also from the sea. John views a woman riding on a beast with seven heads; again, a symbol for Rome. Indeed, rather than Rome’s military might, this image focuses on Roman imperialism and economic power. The woman is drunk and obsessed with displays of wealth. She is a prostitute. John is trying to convey the seductive quality of Roman materialism and violence. Everything and everyone is a commodity to be bought and sold. John is trying to warn the audience not to be taken in by the seduction. The image is a satirical play on the image of the goddess Roma that was found on the back of many Roman coins. Rather than a dignified goddess riding on the seven-headed beast, John gives us a debauched and drunken harlot riding on the back of the monster. Eventually the beast turns on the prostitute and devours her flesh. John is pointing out that the nature of evil is self-destructive. John wants the Christians to be aware and not seduced into the lure of materialism and its disregard for human life.