Revelation and Human Reality

1. Revelation and Human Reality Session 53 A-level Amphitheater LLUMC Jan 29, 2011, 10:30-11:30 AM

3. Richard Bauckham Lectures at LLU • Tuesday, Feb 8, at noon Revelation, Q & A • Tuesday, Feb 8, at 5:30 PM Individualism and Community in the Gospel of John • Wed, Feb 9, at 5:30 PM The Bible and Ecology Where: Alumni Hall Auditorium

4. Freedom and Power

5. Action at Last! Revelation 20:1-3a Then I saw an angel coming down from heaven, holding in his hand the key to the bottomless pit and a great chain. He seized the dragon, that ancient serpent, who is the Devil and Satan, and bound him for a thousand years, and threw him into the pit, and locked and sealed it over him, so that he would deceive the nations no more, until the thousand years were ended.

6. Any Questions? • Such as thisquestion: If forceful action is taken at last, why was it not done earlier? • Possible answer: It is better late than never!

7. More Action Revelation 20:3b After that he must be let out for a little while.

8. Any More Questions? Such as thisquestion: Why will he be released; indeed, why must he be released? Probable answer: It does not make sense!

9. Let Us Consult the Experts “But why is Satan merely bound and why is he ever to be loosed again?” Austin Farrer, Revelation, 202.  “Why, once Satan had been securely sealed in the abyss, must he be let loose to wreak further havoc? And what claim does he have on God, that God is bound to give the Devil his due?” Caird, The Revelation of Saint John 249..

10. Consulting the Experts – the Question “But why, theologically, must he be loosed to deceive the nations? Why did he have to come down to earth with great wrath? Why could he not have been liquidated from the beginning?” Sweet, Revelation, 290. “Why not simply destroy Satan at the beginning of the thousand-year period? Why is it important that Satan is not destroyed during the millennial period?” Resseguie, Revelation Unsealed, 25.

11. Consulting the Experts – the Question “The question occurs to every reader of this text, ‘Once Satan is bound and the earth enjoys a millennium of undemonized celebration, why ‘must’ he be released again?’” Boring,Revelation , 208. “What is the point?” Charles H. Talbert, The Apocalypse, 95.

12. Consulting the Experts – the Answer #1: Something is wrong with the text. John died “when he had completed i.-xx.3 of his work, and that the materials for its completion, which were for the most part ready in a series of independent documents, were put together by a faithful but unintelligent disciple in the order which he thought right.” Charles, Revelation II, 147.

13. Consulting the Experts – the Answer #2: Something is wrong with the author. “After the capture of ‘the beast’ the seer has lost interest in the story.” Lohmeyer, Offenbarung,, 116.

14. Consulting the Experts – the Answer #3: Something is wrong with the source. “Here is our key. The origin of this doctrine is not specifically Christian but is to be found in certain Jewish beliefs about the Messianic age which were common in the time after 100 B. C.” Barclay, Revelation., 2:186-187.

15. Consulting the Experts – the Answer #4: Something is wrong with the script. John “found this event prophesied in Ezekiel xxxviii-xxxix, and prophecies must have their fulfilment.” Caird, Revelation, 256.

16. Satan as Metaphor - 1 Satan is not liquidated “because he represents man’s free will, the capacity God has given for sin, and the terrible reality of the consequences. This heaven and earth cannot exist without him.” Sweet, Revelation, 290.

17. Satan as Metaphor - 2 “Evil must be magnified to its fullest before being destroyed forever. In order to participate in this mythical scene, the devil ‘must’ be released to engage in his characteristic activity of ‘deceiving the nations.’” Boring, Revelation, 209-10.

18. No One to Blame? God “binds the deceiver and sets up a period of time in which His will is perfectly clear and obvious to all. Nevertheless, it is all to no avail. When the deceiver is set free, he still proves…that humans cannot blame their sinfulness on their environment or circumstances.” Talbert, Apocalypse, 95.

19. Sovereign Grace? “Just as he was allowed to enter Eden, so in the restoration of paradise – the millennial earth – he will be permitted to do it again. This final chapter in the world’s history will again demonstrate that people perpetually embrace evil unless sustained by sovereign grace.” MacLeod, “The Fifth ‘Last Thing’: The Release of Satan,” BSac157 (2000), 205.

20. Our Turn The notion that there is something wrong with the text, the author, the source, or the script must be rejected. The notion that Satan is a mere amplifying feature for what is essentially a human drama must also be rejected. In a book billed as a revelation, the notion that this turn of event is inscrutable is also inadequate.

21. ‘My’ Turn The conspicuous binding, thousand-year imprisonment and subsequent release of Satan described toward the end of Revelation (20:1-3; 7-10) establishes Satan as an important character in the narrative and allots to him a central role in the plot of the story on literary and narratival terms alone.

22. ‘My’ Turn - 2 2. Satan is made to stand alone on stage at the end of Revelation’s narrative in order to place him in a separate category that is distinct from the human drama.

23. ‘My’ Turn - 3 3. The ending of Revelation is also the ending of the Bible and the ‘climax of prophecy.’ On this logic the ending of the story is likely to be related in some significant way to the beginning.

24. Next Session Next session: February 12.