Tuesday, July 21, 2009

Revelation 22:8-11

8And I 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. 9Then 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. 10And he saith unto me, Seal not the sayings of the prophecy of this book: for the time is at hand. 11He that is unjust, let him be unjust still: and he which is filthy, let him be filthy still: and he that is righteous, let him be righteous still: and he that is holy, let him be holy still.


EXEGESIS

Because our examination has divided the text into manageable units that sometimes differ from other ways of dividing and outlining the text, I thought that it would be useful to first place this pericope (22:8-11), and some of the material treated by Adam in a slightly different framework in order to see its literary context perhaps a bit better, as well as allow us to make a few generic considerations.

Most divisions of Revelation see its final section or Epilogue as comprising 22:6-21. In a sense this final section revisits the kind of direct revelation to John in the Introduction (1:1-3) and the specific, individual direction to his readers that characterized the Letters to the Seven Churches (1:4-3:22). Indeed, there is a great deal of verbal resonance between the opening and closing sections of the apocalypse, and generically they form an epistolary frame for the whole work. Thus rather than just a series of symbolic visions as in the body of the apocalypse, here John is given specific instructions which he is implicitly instructed to write down and disseminate, as is suggested by the discussion of not sealing the prophecy (22:10) and repeated references throughout the Epilogue to the "book" and the "book of this prophecy."

While John's guide up to this point has been an angel, who was introduced in 21:9, his speaking the words of Christ creates a similar ambiguity to that which confronted John, and the readers, in 19:9-10. Indeed, while the angel is still technically the interlocutor in this passage, by the time we look at the material that Brandie will be treating this week (22:12-17), the speaker is unambiguously the risen Christ, "the Alpha and Omega." In this passage, the fact that it is an angel, rather than Jesus, who seems to be speaking makes little difference: the servants of God bear his name and speak his words.

In terms of the internal structure of the Epilogue, G.K. Beale sees it as consisting of five exhortations to holiness (vv. 6-7, 8-10, 11-12, 13-17, and 18-20) followed by a single verse conclusion (v. 21). While many other divisions of the epilogue have been advanced, and while most agree that there is no explicit flow of thought, the idea that it comprises as final exhortation for God's people to manifest "holy obedience" so that they can become heirs to the heavenly Jerusalem and the new earth that was the subject of the last vision seems clear. A repetition in 22:10 of the earlier idea that the time is at hand (see 1:3) adds to the sense of urgency that believers, whenever they may be living, must respond to the message of Revelation.

Notes

I John saw these things, and heard them. Here the emphasis on senses, seeing and hearing, is again prominent. The visions of John were an actual experience, and since the overarching message is of the person and work of the Risen Lord, there is a certain resonance with the opening testimony of 1 John 1:1: "That which was from the beginning, which we have heard, which we have seen with our eyes, which we have looked upon, and our hands have handled, of the Word of life."

I fell down to worship before the feet of the angel which shewed me these things. The reasons for John's act here are somewhat more clear than in a similar moment in 19:9-10. At least here, in a vivid example of Talmage-esque "divine investiture of authority," the angel has just quoted, in first person, the words of Jesus: "Behold, I come quickly . . ." (22:7). Accordingly it is possible that John actually confused the angel with the person whose words he was quoting. Commentators, however, tend to focus more on the disorienting effect the fantastic visions have had on John.

Then saith he unto me, See thou do it not . . .worship God. Because of the emphasis on idolatry throughout the book, some have suggested that the angel's rebuke of John is a final message that none besides God alone, or perhaps Christ with God, are worthy or veneration or worship (See Beale, 1128).

I am thy fellowservant, and of thy brethren the prophets, and of them which keep the sayings of this book. Paralleling 19:10, the prophets here may well be those who have the testimony of Jesus, since "the testimony of Jesus is the spirit of prophecy." If one accepts that the revelation of Revelation is the unveiling of the risen, glorified Christ, those who keep the saying of this book are those who know Jesus for who he really is, who testify of that, and who are his at his coming.

Seal not the sayings of the prophecy of this book. Here a clear echo to the end of another apocalyptic book (or more correctly the ending of the apocalyptic section of a book) can be seen by comparing it to Daniel 12:4, where Daniel was commanded to seal up his book until the end. A similar injunction to seal something up was seen in the direction to seal the voice of the seven thunders in 10:4, but overall the thrust of 5:1-11:18, and by extension that of the whole book, has been to unveil and unseal.

For the time is at hand. A purely futurist interpretation of Revelation robs this expression of all sense. Clearly the time for the final wrapping up scene was not at hand at the time that John wrote Revelation, but an eclectic approach (and especially progressive dispensationalism) allows it to have meaning to readers in every age.

He that is unjust, let him be unjust still: and he which is filthy, let him be filthy still: and he that is righteous, let him be righteous still: and he that is holy, let him be holy still. This verse (really part of the third exhortation according to Beale's schema) is difficult grammatically, because the exhortations are, in Greek, actually imperatives and aorist imperatives at that. The aspect of the tense gives the sense not of continuing action but of instantly begun action or accomplished state (although this is tempered in each instance by the adverb eti, which is difficult to take as anything but "still" or "yet" although "further," meaning more than before, might work). A grammatical answer to this is that these imperatives may actually be what Wallace calls "conditional imperatives" (pp. 489-91)

The question, then, is whether this applies to a post-judgment state or, if the passage applies in every age.



EXPOSITION

Passing reference above to the standard LDS idea of "divine investiture of authority," has bearing on Latter-day Saint responses to verses 8-9, since an angel or prophet can in fact speak the very words of God or Christ as if he were the very deity acting or speaking. While this passage, and its parallel in 19:10, might serve as examples of the actual practice of such representational authority, members of our community might be well served by learning from the rebuke to John when he confused the message (and its originator) with the messenger: while we may respect, sustain, and even honor prophets and leaders, only God alone deserves worship of any kind.

The concept of sealed books, while here clearly resonant with Daniel, is important in other restoration scripture, especially the Book of Mormon. In fact the direction given to Nephi in 1 Nephi 14 (and presumably similar direction given to Mahonri Morinancumer and Moroni in regard to material associated with Ether) privileges the very text of John now under discussion.

Since Book of Mormon scripture and some of its concepts presumably were not available to John, parallels with that book are properly the realm of exposition not exegesis. Still, the idea of no unclean thing being able to enter the kingdom of God and a place being prepared for those who remain filthy (see 1 Nephi 15:33-34, 2 Nephi 9:16, Alma 7:21, etc.) illustrate an important doctrinal point suggested by 22:11. Especially if the imperatives of 22:11 are in fact conditional, readers are presented with a choice to be filthy or righteous. As the Lord, through his angel to John, exhorted his people to holiness, he was in fact applying the drama of the visions of Revelation to them: they could be with the Great Whore or the Living Christ.

3 comments:

  1. Talmagian divine investiture of authority gets abused a lot by my blogging friends, who like to jokingly toss it around as the deus ex machina that solves all theological dilemmas. But it is a real concept, as these Revelation passages demonstrate.

    And I find the instruction *not* to seal the book fascinating, and a vivid demonstration of the immediacy of the results of the prophecy.

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  2. What a fascinating post. Thank you.

    A few random comments:

    (1) I am struck by the chiastic repetition of saw/heard/heard/seen in v8. I wonder what purpose it might serve?

    (2) V8-9 is quite similar to 1 Nephi 17:55. What does this teach us about Nephi/the angel and John/Nephi's brothers?

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  3. Thanks, Eric, for your work on these verses. It was worth the wait.

    Regarding verses 8-9:

    "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."

    I'm reminding of the way that Jesus himself displaces worship from himself to the father. One could certainly imagine Jesus saying exactly the same thing the angel does were someone to attempt to worship him.

    Apropos of our discussion last week about divine decentering, I wonder if this deferral/displacement may not itself be a mark of divinity.

    If one were to bow down at the feet of the Father himself, would he defer or displace or deflect it? Would he direct us instead to the Son? Or to the Spirit? Or to Heavenly Mother? Such that the perichoresis of the Godhead would itself be orchestrated by precisely this kind of displacement from one person to the next to the next and back around again?

    I wonder.

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