The book of Revelation is a wondrous part of the Bible. But it’s apocalyptic literature, full of symbolic imagery that strikes many modern readers as puzzling or even bizarre. Revelation has the potential to profoundly illuminate God’s truth. Yet it’s also easy to misunderstand, and that can result in a great deal of confusion.
In Revelation 5, John the Seer describes the heavenly throne room, where God Almighty is seated in royal splendor. In his right hand God holds a scroll which contains his plan to establish his kingdom over all creation. Initially no one can be found who is worthy to open the scroll. But in a dramatic reversal, one of the heavenly figures announces, “See, the Lion of the tribe of Judah, the Root of David, has triumphed. He is able to open the scroll and its seven seals.”
The “Lion of the tribe of Judah” (Genesis 49:9-10) and “the Root of David” (Isaiah 11:1) are titles for the Messiah, the king of Israel. These (and other) scriptures prophesied that one day a mighty king would arise from the line of David. This king would be God’s agent in bringing about his righteous rule over all the nations. Many Jews cherished the expectation that the Messiah would lead the armies of Israel in triumph over their pagan enemies who oppressed God’s people.
This hope is perhaps most clearly expressed in Psalm 2, one of John’s favorite passages. Psalm 2 describes how the nations are currently raging & rebelling against the Creator. In response, God grants his anointed king victory over his enemies, thereby achieving sovereignty over the whole world: “I will make the nations your inheritance, the ends of the earth your possession. You will break them with a rod of iron; you will dash them to pieces like pottery.” This forceful language suggests that the Messiah’s victory would come through military violence.
However, immediately after hearing these grand Messianic titles, John sees “a Lamb, looking as if it had been slain.” The heavenly chorus praises the slaughtered Lamb as the only one who is worthy to open the scroll, for he has triumphed, not by military conquest, but by virtue of his sacrificial death. He thereby purchased for God persons “from every nation, tribe, people and language.” These people will share in God’s glorious reign over the redeemed creation.
John has deliberately created a sharp contrast between what he hears and what he sees. He hears the Messianic titles announced, but he sees the slaughtered Lamb. By crafting his account in this way, John has taken the Jewish Messianic expectations and reshaped them around Jesus of Nazareth.
John strongly affirms that Jesus is the Messiah – the Lion of the Tribe of Judah and the Root of David. But he radically alters the expectation that the Messiah would lead the armies of ethnic Israel in violent military conquest over their pagan enemies. John instead perceives that the Messiah’s victory has been achieved through his faithful witness & sacrificial death. Jesus has triumphed over all the dark forces which oppose the rule and reign of God. Instead of simply destroying the rebellious nations, Jesus has made a way for people of every nation to be welcomed into God’s kingdom.
John will use this same literary technique in chapter 7. Revelation 7 describes an angel “having the seal of the living God.” John hears “the number of those who were sealed: 144,000 from all the tribes of Israel.” 12,000 are sealed from each of the tribes. This passage clearly depicts the Army of Israel. When a census was conducted in the Old Testament, the goal was always to determine how many fighting age men were present in Israel. The twelve divisions are military units arranged in fighting formation according to their tribe.
Again, this imagery is consistent with the Old Testament expectation that the Messiah would lead Israel’s armies against the Gentiles who oppressed God’s people. Of course, King David was the quintessential king who fought on behalf of Israel against the pagan Philistines. In the same way, the Jews hoped that the Messiah would one day win the decisive victory over the enemies of God, thereby establishing God’s kingdom over all the earth.
John prophetically sees that these Old Testament expectations have indeed been fulfilled, but not in the way that ethnic Israel expected. God had fulfilled his promises through the shocking death & resurrection of Jesus. The court of the Sanhedrin condemned Jesus as a false Messiah, leading the people of Israel astray. The resurrection proved beyond a shadow of a doubt that Jesus was God’s anointed king. His death on the cross wasn’t a shameful & ignominious defeat, as both his disciples and his enemies had initially thought. Rather, Jesus’ death paradoxically constituted God’s victory over all the evil forces which oppose his rule & reign.
Moreover, Jesus’ death & resurrection have changed the very nature of Israel, the people of God. Israel is no longer defined merely by physical descent. Rather, the identity of Israel is now inextricably bound up with her true king. Jesus became king when he was enthroned upon the cross. Romans soldiers mockingly arrayed him with a royal purple robe and placed a crown of thorns on his bruised & bloody brow. The titulus above his head proclaimed “Jesus of Nazareth, the King of the Jews.”
For John the Seer and all the early Christians, Israel now consisted of all people who submitted in loyal obedience to King Jesus. Membership in Israel no longer rested upon ethnicity, but included people from every nation who acknowledged Jesus as Lord. Meanwhile, ethnic Jews who rejected Jesus as Messiah had been cut out of the covenant family.
In the same way, the army of the Messiah had radically changed. The army of Jesus is not composed exclusively of ethnic Israelite men of military age. Instead, the army of the Messiah enlists both men & women, old & young, drawn from “every nation, tribe, people and language.”
John communicates this reality by once again contrasting what he hears with what he sees. After he hears the number of the 144,000, he sees “a great multitude, that no one could count…” Writing the book of Revelation in about 90 AD, John was firmly aware that Christians composed only a tiny sliver of the Roman Empire, let alone the entire world. But John also knew that God had promised Abraham descendants who could no more be counted than the stars in the sky or the sand on the seashore.
Just as importantly, the Messiah’s army was not called to conquer through military violence. Rather, their main weapon was the same as their Lord. Jesus had won the comprehensive victory over sin & death by maintaining faithful witness even unto death. His followers are called to conquer in the same way. We must bear faithful witness to God and to his righteousness, even in the face of persecution.
Moreover, in Revelation 11, John will reveal how the sacrifice of Jesus’ loyal followers will be a crucial part of God’s plan. Their suffering will be the means by which God brings people of every nation into his kingdom! (See blog series beginning with “The Scroll” https://whyseekthelivingamongthedead.com/?p=7885)
There is much confusion in the church about the modern nation of Israel. Many readers of Revelation have badly misunderstood chapter 7 and its portrayal of the army of Israel. They mistakenly believe that this passage must somehow refer to the ethnic Jews who compose most (73%) of the population of the modern state of Israel. They fail to grasp the vital truth that John is trying to communicate to us.
The message of Revelation 7 is the death & resurrection of Jesus the Messiah is the lynchpin of all God’s plans & purposes. The people of God are no longer defined by ethnicity. Those who are Jews by physical descent possess no special status over against anyone else. Membership in God’s people – the true Israel – requires loyalty to King Jesus. All are welcome, whether ethnic Jews or not. But ethnic Jews who persist in rejecting Jesus have no place in the covenant people.
The people of God are now defined by Jesus himself. He is the true Israelite and the King of the Jews. Israel is now composed of people “from every nation, tribe, people and language” who follow Jesus in loyal obedience. They are the army of the Messiah, although not one that conquers through military violence. Instead, they achieve victory through faithful witness and suffering sacrifice: “They triumphed over [Satan] by the blood of the Lamb and by the word of their testimony; they did not love their lives so much as to shrink from death.”
God’s people must lay down their lives on account of their king. For some this might entail literal martyrdom. But for all, it requires a life of total commitment to King Jesus and his kingdom.
