The Book of Revelation

Worship for Life in the Spirit of Prophecy

John Paul Heil

• Publisher: Cascade Books
• Year: 2014
• Print ISBN:
  9781625644442
  9781498216999
• eBook ISBN:
  9781630874162
• Topic: Theology & Religion
• Subtopic: Biblical Biography

John Paul Heil presents an original analysis of the theme of worship in the book of Revelation guided by a new illustration of its comprehensive chiastic structure. The worship that Revelation exhorts and enables is in the divine Spirit of prophetic witness against all forms of idolatrous worship on earth in favor of a true, heavenly, and universal worship of the Lord God and the Lord Jesus Christ, the Lamb, for an eternal and heavenly life. The audience begins this worship in the eucharistic supper into which Revelation leads them by inviting them to respond to the promise of Jesus, "Yes, I am coming soon," with "Amen! Come, Lord Jesus!" They thereby affirm and welcome the coming of the Lord Jesus, the exalted sacrificial Lamb, to the eucharistic supper that anticipates his final coming and the divine grace, the gift of eternal life, of the Lord Jesus that is intended to be the destiny of all--"The grace of the Lord Jesus with all!"

1

Introduction

This book presents new proposals for the structure and the worship theme of the book of Revelation. First, I will illustrate a new comprehensive chiastic structure that attempts, in contrast to previous proposals, to account for all of the textual data.1 This structure provides a visual guide to the oral presentation of the text as it was heard by its original audience in a context of liturgical worship.2 I will employ my proposed structure as the organizational basis for the exegetical chapters that follow this introduction.

Secondly, I will demonstrate a new unifying theme by which Revelation functions as a liturgical prophecy to exhort and enable its implied audience to witness against idolatrous worship and for true worship in accord with the eternal life now available as a result of the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ. The subtitle of this book, “Worship for Life in the Spirit of Prophecy,” sums up this unifying theme. In this introductory chapter I will present an overview of the structure of Revelation followed by a discussion of my presuppositions and preliminary analysis of its main theme of worship.

The Structure of the Book of Revelation

The Four Major Sections

The book of Revelation divides into four major sections, each introduced by a similarly recurring linguistic pattern. This pattern consists of the first four occurrences in Revelation of the verb “to show” (1:1; 4:1; 17:1; 21:9) shortly followed by the only four occurrences in Revelation of the phrase “in Spirit” (1:10; 4:2; 17:3; 21:10). The pattern for the first two sections employs the verb “I was” with “in Spirit,” whereas in the final two sections the verb “he carried” occurs with “in Spirit.” In addition, the final two sections introduce the verb “to show” with the only two occurrences in Revelation of the adverb “here” (17:1; 21:9).

This recurring linguistic pattern thus indicates that the following are the four major sections of Revelation: First, 1:1—3:22: “I was in Spirit on the Lord’s day” (1:10) to be shown what must happen soon (1:1); second, 4:1—16:21: “‘I will show you what must happen after these things.’ Immediately I was in Spirit” (4:1–2); third, 17:1—21:8: “‘Here, I will show the judgment’ (17:1) . . . then he carried me into the wilderness in Spirit” (17:3); fourth, 21:9—22:21: “‘Here, I will show you the bride’ (21:9) . . . then he carried me in Spirit to a mountain” (21:10).

The Ten Macrochiastic Subsections

Within the four major sections are ten macrochiastic subsections arranged as follows:

1) Grace from John in Spirit to the Churches To Be Shown What Must Happen Soon (1:1—3:22)

a) Prologue: John’s Authorization To Prophesy to the Seven Churches (1:1–20)

b) Prophetic Oracles to the Seven Churches (2:1—3:22)

2) John in Spirit Shown What Must Happen after These Things (4:1—16:21)

c) John’s Visions of Lamb Opening Seals and Worship around Throne in Heaven (4:1—7:17)

d) John’s Vis...

Table of contents

• Title Page
• Abbreviations
• Chapter 1: Introduction
• Part 1: Grace from John in Spirit to Churches to Be Shown What Must Happen Soon (1:1—3:22)
• Chapter 2: Prologue: John’s Authorization to Prophesy to the Seven Churches
• Chapter 3: Prophetic Oracles to the Seven Churches
• Part 2: John in Spirit Shown What Must Happen after These Things (4:1—16:21)
• Chapter 4: John’s Visions of Lamb Opening the Seals and Worship around the Throne in Heaven
• Chapter 5: John’s Visions of the Seven Angels Trumpeting Their Seven Trumpets
• Chapter 6: Worship of Dragon and Beasts on Earth and Worship of Lamb in Heaven
• Chapter 7: John’s Visions of the Seven Angels Pouring out Their Seven Bowls
• Part 3: Carried in Spirit to Wilderness, John Shown Prostitute and Wife of Lamb (17:1—21:8)
• Chapter 8: Vision and Downfall of the Idolatrous Prostitute Babylon
• Chapter 9: Heavenly Worship and Final Judgment
• Part 4: Grace from John Carried in Spirit to Mountain and Shown Holy City (21:9—22:21)
• Chapter 10: Visions of the Heavenly City’s Worship of God and the Lamb for Eternal Life
• Chapter 11: Epilogue: Exhortations about Words of This Prophecy for Worship of God
• Bibliography