Some Thoughts on the Dating of the Book of Revelation (Part Two)
Site of the “Cave of the Apocalypse” on Patmos
Arguments for a Pre-A.D. 70 Date of Authorship and Responses
(1). In Revelation 11:1-12, John, supposedly, mentions the Jerusalem temple as though it were currently standing when he was given his vision.[1]
If the temple was still standing when John recorded his vision, then the Book of Revelation must have been written before the temple’s destruction at the hands of the Romans in A.D. 70. The passage (Revelation 11:1-2), reads as follows; “I was given a reed like a measuring rod and was told, `Go and measure the temple of God and the altar, and count the worshipers there. But exclude the outer court; do not measure it, because it has been given to the Gentiles. They will trample on the holy city for 42 months.” If John is speaking of the temple in Jerusalem, and it was still standing when John was given this vision, this demands a date of composition before the temple was destroyed.[2]
Response:
The post-A.D. 70 response to the prior interpretation is to notice the highly symbolic language throughout the passage which points the reader in a direction away from that of the physical temple in Jerusalem. As G. B. Caird points out, “in a book in which all things are expressed in symbols, the very last things the temple and the holy city could mean would be the physical temple and earthly Jerusalem.”[3]
Caird goes on to note that if John is referring to the Jerusalem temple, then a rather remarkable thing is said to occur. The Gentiles, which according to the pre-A.D. 70 dating, would mean the armies of Titus (cf. Luke 21:24) occupy the outer court for three and a half years, but leave the inner court (the altar) undefiled. This, of course, did not happen when the temple was destroyed. If true, it would make much of the passage unintelligible because it lacks any historical connection to the actual events of A.D. 70. This also ignores John’s use of the symbolism of the outer court and the inner sanctuary as a reference to the church.
However, the passage does make perfect sense if the temple had already been destroyed when John writes. The time of the Gentiles was already underway because the outer court is presently being trampled, while the true sanctuary (the heavenly temple) remains undefiled because it is protected by God.[4] The church on earth suffers, while the church in heaven triumphs.
Based on the discussion which follows in verses 3-11 of Revelation 11, this includes the account of the two witnesses who prophesy for the same time period as the outer court is trampled by the Gentiles (1260 days/42 months). These witnesses exercise miracle-power (which recalls to mind Moses and Elijah), and then are slain by the beast in the great city called Sodom and Egypt (more on this below), only to be raised from the dead. This time period is much likely a symbolic description of the inter-advental period, not the time immediately before the temple is destroyed (the lifetime of the apostles until A.D. 70).[5]
In fact, the measurements given John by the angel do not reflect the historical temple in Jerusalem at all. Instead they fit the heavenly temple depicted in Ezekiel 40-48,[6] and which, as some have thought, may refer to “the spiritual building of the church.”[7] It is also very important to recall that John is not instructed to measure a temple supposedly still standing in Jerusalem. John is instructed to measure the temple he sees before him in his heavenly vision.
Conclusion:
Therefore, the mention of 42 months and the reference to the time of the Gentiles are much more likely references to that time between our Lord’s first and second coming and not to that period of time immediately before A.D. 70, when Christians were warned to flee from Jerusalem when they saw that it had been surrounded by the armies of Titus.
(2) The Chronology of Roman Emperors Requires a Pre-A.D. 70 Date
In Revelation 17:9-11, John writes, “This calls for a mind with wisdom. The seven heads are seven hills on which the woman sits. They are also seven kings. Five have fallen, one is, the other has not yet come; but when he does come, he must remain for a little while. The beast who once was, and now is not, is an eighth king. He belongs to the seven and is going to his destruction.” According to most commentators, this is a reference to the city of Rome and its seven hills.[8] The seven hills are also symbolic of seven kings. According to verse 10, the sixth king is in power when John writes. Therefore, if the first in this series of kings is either Augustus or Julius Caesar, then the sixth king is either Galba or Nero, both of whom reigned before A.D. 70.]9] If this is the case, then the chronology of the passage requires a pre-A.D. 70 date.
Response:
As Beale and others have pointed out, there are a number of problems with such an historical identification.[10] With what emperor does one begin counting? Are all emperors to be counted, or only those who participate in the imperial cult? What about the short-term rulers who came between Nero and Vespatian? More importantly, how does one deal with Revelation 17:11? There we read of “the beast who once was, and now is not, is an eighth king. He belongs to the seven and is going to his destruction.” How does this list of seven kings fit with the ten kings of Revelation 17:12?[11]
Either John is teaching a literal resurrection of one of the earlier kings (hence the Nero myth), or else this is symbolic language which points us in the direction of a non-literal interpretation of this succession of leaders. In fact, according to Beasley-Murray, “this whole procedure [of identifying emperors] should be viewed as misguided.”[12] John is not giving his reader a history lesson, nor speaking to the question of the exact number of Roman emperors. As Sweet points out, John’s readers, “knew all about Nero, but were as unlikely to have known the succession of emperors as readers today know that of the Presidents of the United States.”[13] The number seven is used throughout Revelation as the symbolic number of completeness,[14] therefore, as Caird wryly points out, John did not “arrive at the number [seven] by counting emperors.”[15] John’s point is that the church must face persecution throughout the entire present evil age (the completeness of this period symbolized by the seven emperors), and must suffer not only under the seventh king, but the church must also face an eighth king, who will arise at the end of the age in conjunction with the final assault of the dragon, beast, and false prophet.[16]
Conclusion:
Therefore, the identification of the kings in this passage is far more difficult to prove than those who argue for an early date seem to indicate. The real issue for John’s reader is not the chronology of emperors, but the identity of the eighth king, who was yet to come.
(3). Since the number 666 likely refers to Nero, this seems to indicate that Revelation was written during or shortly after Nero’s reign (A.D. 68) and before A.D. 70.[17]
Response:
The number 666 is at least as theological in its significance as it is historical. Therefore, what is symbolized by this number extends beyond Nero to all state leaders who oppose Christ and his kingdom. While Nero is certainly in the minds of John and his readers through the 666 imagery, Nero’s reign of terror does not exhaust the prophecy of Revelation 13:1-18.
In fact, since the beast imitates the resurrection of Christ when his deadly wound is healed (Revelation 13:3), John is probably making the point that even though Nero was long dead, he had returned, in effect, in the person of Domitian, persecuting the church when John was given his vision.[18] This is the so-called “Nero myth,” which held that after he died, Nero would miraculously return to life and lead a Parthian army against Rome.
If Revelation 13:3-4 and Revelation 17:8-11, do indeed speak of a king who is a Nero redivivus (raised from the dead), then this requires a date much later than 68.[19] Since the beast was present (resurrected) when John writes Revelation, it is only natural to see John warning Christians across time of what to expect whenever they encounter what Bauckham calls “a deification of power.”[20] This occurs whenever the state or its leader takes unto itself divine rights and privileges and in doing so, mimics the death, resurrection, and parousia of Christ. This opposition from a series of such beasts will continue until an intensification of evil at the end of the age immediately before our Lord’s second advent, when an eighth and final beast is manifest.
(4). The reference to “Babylon” in the Book of Revelation is interpreted as symbolically referring to the city of Jerusalem and apostate Judaism.
In Revelation 11:8 we read of the two witnesses, “their bodies will lie in the street of the great city, which is figuratively called Sodom and Egypt, where also their Lord was crucified.” It is argued that Jerusalem (the place where the Lord was crucified) is therefore to be identified as the great city. Then, later on in Revelation 18:10-21, the great city is specifically identified as Babylon. This means that the destruction of Jerusalem in A.D. 70, fulfills the prophecy of the destruction of Babylon in Revelation 18.[21] In order for this to fit, Revelation must have been written before A.D. 70.
Response:
The problem with this is that the same verse which is used to equate the “great city” as the place where Jesus is crucified is also called “Sodom and Egypt” suggesting that a non-literal reading of the passage is in order, especially in light of the fact that throughout Revelation the reference to “Babylon” is clearly a reference to Rome (see Revelation 14:8; 17:18; 18:2, 10, 16, 18-19, 21).[22] According to John Sweet, “like . . . Hiroshima for us, Sodom, Egypt, Babylon and Jerusalem were heavy with meaning. The `great city’, in whose street the witnesses lie, cannot any more than Vanity Fair be limited to one place and time.”[23] In fact, the identification of Rome as Babylon was made by virtually all Jewish writers after the Romans destroyed the temple in A.D. 70, but never before.[24] If this is indeed a reference to the city of Jerusalem in the apostolic period, it would be the only place where such identification is made.
(5). John’s Vision in Revelation 1:7 Requires a Date Before A.D. 70
In Revelation (1:7), John writes, “Look, he is coming with the clouds, and every eye will see him, even those who pierced him; and all the peoples of the earth will mourn because of him. So shall it be! Amen.” Preterists argue that this is a prophetic reference to Jesus coming in judgement upon Israel in A.D. 70 which fulfills the prophecy in Zechariah 12:10-12. The earth is equated with Jerusalem, and the mention of the tribes are thought to be a reference to Israel. If true, this means Revelation must be written before A.D. 70.[25]
Response:
There are two major problems with this interpretation. For one thing the prophecy from Zechariah 12:10-12 is a reference to Israel’s eschatological salvation, not her final judgment.[26] For another, the view that the “peoples of the earth” (literally, the “tribes of the earth”) refers to Israel is a theological stretch at best. Nowhere (unless it is here) does the phrase “tribes of the earth” refer to just Israelite tribes. Whenever it is used in the LXX, it refers to “all nations,” not to Israel.[27]
Next: Part Three: Arguments and responses for a post-AD 70 dating of Revelation
** This material is taken from the appendix of my book, The Man of Sin (Baker, 2006) and revised for publication here
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[1] Robinson, Redating the New Testament, 238-242. Says Robinson, “it is clear from what follows that this is the old temple of the earthly city” ( 239).
[2] Gentry, Before Jerusalem Fell, 169-174.
[3] G. B. Caird, The Revelation of Saint John (Peabody MA: Hendricksen Publishers, 1999), 131.
[4] Bauckham, The Climax of Prophecy, 272; Johnson, Triumph of the Lamb, 165-169; Sweet, Revelation, 8.
[5] See, for example, the discussion in; Martin Kiddle, The Revelation of St. John (New York: Harper and Brothers Publishers, 1940),174-197.
[6] Beale, Revelation, 21; 559-565.
[7] Swete, The Apocalypse of St. John, 132.
[8] See the summation of these issues in Isbon T. Beckwith, The Apocalypse of John, reprint ed. (Grand Rapids: Baker Book House, 1967), 704-709. Futurists tend to see this as a reference to a succession of kingdoms. See George E. Ladd, A Commentary on the Revelation of John (Grand Rapids: William B. Eerdmans, 1987), 229; and Joseph A. Seiss, The Apocalypse, reprint edition (Grand Rapids: Zondervan Publishing House, 1957) 391-394.
[9] Gentry, Before Jerusalem Fell, 153-159; Robinson, Redating the New Testament, 242-252.
[10] Beale, Revelation, 21-24.
[11] Beale, Revelation, 22-23.
[12] G. R. Beasley-Murray, The Book of Revelation (Grand Rapids: William B. Eerdmans, 1974), 257.
[13] Sweet, Revelation, 257.
[14] Beale, Revelation, 870-876; Beasley-Murray, The Book of Revelation, 257; Caird, The Revelation of Saint John, 216-218; Johnson, Triumph of the Lamb, 250-251; Sweet, Revelation, 14-15.
[15] Caird, The Revelation of Saint John, 218.
[16] Beasley-Murray, The Book of Revelation; Johnson, Triumph of the Lamb, 251.
[17] Gentry, Before Jerusalem Fell, 193-219.
[18] Swete, The Apocalypse of St. John, lxxxiv.
[19] Beale, Revelation, 17-18; Bauckham, Climax of Prophecy, 429-431.
[20] Bauckham, Climax of Prophecy, 451. Sweet puts it this way. “In a world which was accepting a deified state under a deified head as the source of all salvation, and in a church which was accepting this valuation at the expense of its proper witness to the rule of God, Revelation uncovered the missing dimension, so that Christians should act according to the will of the God they could not see, rather than that of the Caesar they could–so that at whatever cost, they should put eternal destiny before apparent security and prosperity in the present (cf. Sweet, Revelation, 2).
[21] DeMar, Last Days Madness, 359.
[22] Bauckham, Climax of Prophecy, 172; Caird, The Revelation of Saint John, 138.
[23] Sweet, Revelation, 15.
[24] Beale, Revelation, 25.
[25] David Chilton, The Days of Vengeance: An Exposition of the Book of Revelation (Ft. Worth, TX: Dominion Press, 1987), 64-67; Cf. Gentry, Before Jerusalem Fell, 121-132.
[26] See, for example, Gerard Van Groningen, Messianic Revelation in the Old Testament (Grand Rapids: Baker Book House, 1990), 905-907; Beale, Revelation, 26; Caird, The Revelation of Saint John, 18.
[27] Beale, Revelation, 26.