The Cradle, the Cross, and the Crown (198 page)

⁴¹
See C. H. H. Scobie, “Local References in the Letters to the Seven Churches,”
NTS
39 (1993): 606-24.

⁴²
L. Mowry, “Revelation 4—5 and Early Christian Liturgical Usage,”
JBL
71 (1952): 80; Mounce,
Book of Revelation,
140; Beasley-Murray,
Book of Revelation,
119; H.-J. Klauck, “Das Sendschreiben nach Pergamon und der Kaiserkult in der Johannesoffenbarung,”
Bib
73 (1992): 172; Beale,
Book of Revelation,
335; C. S. Keener,
Revelation,
NIVAC (Grand Rapids: Zondervan, 2000), 176; J. Roloff,
The Revelation of John: A Continental Commentary,
trans. J. E. Alsup (Minneapolis: Fortress, 1993), 72; Osborne,
Revelation,
240; Aune,
Revelation 1—5,
310; id., “The Influence of Roman Imperial Court Ceremony on the Apocalypse of John,”
BibRes
28 (1983): 20—22.

⁴³
Aune,
Revelation 1—5,
310.

⁴⁴
The deification of the emperor was called the rite of apotheosis. See S. R. F. Price,
Rituals and Power: The Roman Imperial Cult in Asia Minor
(Cambridge: University Press, 1984), 75.

⁴⁵
Philo,
Legat.
353; P. Borgen, “Emperor Worship and Persecution in Philo's
In Flaccum
and
De Legatione ad Gaium
and the Revelation of John,” in
Geschichte
—
Tradition
—
Reflexion: Festschrift für Martin Hengel zum 70. Geburstag,
ed. H. Lichtenberger, vol. 3:
Frühes Christentum
(Tübingen: Mohr Siebeck, 1996), 498—503; J. S. McLaren, “Jews and the Imperial Cult: From Augustus to Domitian,”
JSNT
27 (2005): 266-69.

⁴⁶
T. B. Slater, “On the Social Setting of the Revelation to John,”
NTS 44
(1998): 236.

⁴⁷
Suetonius,
Dom.
13.2; Dio Cassius,
Hist.
67.4.7; 67.13.4; see Dio Chrysostom,
Def.
45.1; Juvenal,
Sat.
4.69—71. See also Parker, “‘Our Lord and God’ in Rev 4,11,” 209.

⁴⁸
J. A. Seiss,
The Apocalypse: Lectures on the Book of Revelation,
ZCS (Grand Rapids: Zondervan, 1979), 235—41; J. F. Walvoord,
The Revelation of Jesus Christ: A Commentary
(Chicago: Moody, 1966), 175—77.

⁴⁹
Swete,
Revelation,
132—33; Caird,
Revelation of St. John,
131—32; Mounce,
Book of Revelation,
218—20; R. Bauckham,
The Climax of Prophecy: Studies on the Book of Revelation
(Edinburgh: T&T Clark, 1993), 272; Beale,
Book of Revelation, 557—71;
Keener,
Revelation,
287—89; M. Jauhiainen, “The Measuring of the Sanctuary Reconsidered (Rev 11,1—2),”
Bib
83 (2002): 507 n. 2; Osborne,
Revelation,
408-15.

⁵⁰
K. H. Easley,
Revelation,
HNTC (Nashville: Holman Reference, 1998), 188-89.

⁵¹
Bauckham,
Climax of Prophecy,
412—13; Aune,
Revelation 6—16,
738. This belief was nourished and reinforced by at least three pretenders. The first, in the year
69,
a slave from Pontus or a freedman from Italy, gathered a small army and sailed from Greece, only to experience shipwreck on an island where he was soon executed (Tacitus,
Hist.
2.8; Dio Cassius,
Hist.
63.9.3). The second, Terentius Maximus, in the year 80, appeared in the province of Asia, where he gathered a few followers and marched to the Euphrates River, where he eventually sought refuge with the Parthians (Dio Cassius,
Hist.
66.19.3). The third appeared 20 years after Nero's death in the year 88 (Suetonius,
Nero
57.2; see Tacitus,
Hist.
2.8.1). See Bauckham,
Climax of Prophecy,
412—14; P. A. Gallivan, “The False Neros: A Reexamination,”
Historia
22 (1973): 364—65; A. E. Pappano, “The False Neros,”
CJ
32 (1937): 385-92; and Aune,
Revelation 6-16,
738-39.

⁵²
See
Sib. Or.
3.63—74, where Nero is identified as Beliar, the archenemy of God's people;
Sib. Or.
4.119—24,138—39, the earliest known source containing a prophetic expectation of Nero's return from Parthia (most likely dated after the year 70 because of the reference to the eruption of Mt. Vesuvius, which occurred in the year 79;
Sib. Or.
1.30—35); and
Sib. Or.
5.28—34, 93—110, 137—54, 214—27, 361—80, referring to Nero's return from his supposed flight to Parthia and the expectation that he would destroy Rome. See Bauckham,
Climax of Prophecy,
415—20; Aune,
Revelation 6—16,
739.

⁵³
The
Ascen. Isa.
4:2—4, most likely dated around the end of the first century, expected the coming of a demonically inspired king who would persecute the church. Cf.
Apoc. Pet.
14:11; see Bauckham,
Climax of Prophecy,
411—12.

⁵⁴
Bauckham,
Climax of Prophecy,
423.

⁵⁵
Ibid., 424—28. Bauckham demonstrated that this apocalyptic tradition is rooted in a reading of Daniel 7.

⁵⁶
W. H. C. Frend,
Rise of Christianity
(Philadelphia: Fortress, 1984), 331, n. 8; I. T. Beckwith,
The Apocalypse of John: Studies in Introduction with a Critical and Exegetical Commentary
(London: Macmillan, 1919; repr. Grand Rapids: Baker, 1967), 635—36; Collins,
Crisis and Catharsis,
59; Bauckham,
Climax of Prophecy,
407—50; Beale,
Book of Revelation,
17—18; Aune,
Revelation 6—16,
737—40; Osborne,
Revelation, 496;
Klauck, “Do They Never Come Back?” 683—98.

⁵⁷
Philostratus referred to Nero as a beast due to his tyranny
(Vit. Apoll.
4.38).

⁵⁸
Bauckham,
Climax of Prophecy,
424—29. Cf. G. K. Beale,
The Use of Daniel in Jewish Apocalyptic Literature and in the Revelation of John
(Lanham: University Press of America, 1984), 229—39; and J. Fekkes,
Isaiah and Prophetic Traditions in the Book of Revelation,
JSNTSup 93 (Sheffield: JSOT, 1994), 82-85.

⁵⁹
Bauckham,
Climax of Prophecy,
430.

⁶⁰
Ibid., 421.

⁶¹
The language used to describe the beast's resurrection (or that of one of its heads) in 13:3 mimics the same words used to describe Christ in 5:6. The return of the beast in 17:11 also parallels the language used for God in 1:4,8; 4:8. See Beale,
Book of Revelation, 875—77’,
Bauckham,
Climax of Prophecy,
432, 435; Osborne,
Revelation,
620—21; A. Farrer,
The Revelation of St. John the Divine
(Oxford: University Press, 1964), 184; A. Y. Collins,
The Combat Myth in the Book of Revelation
(Missoula: Scholars Press, 1976), 185; Swete,
Revelation,
255—58.

⁶²
Martial,
Epig.
11.33.1-3; Juvenal,
Sat.
4.37-38; Pliny,
Pan.
48.3; 53.4.

⁶³
Klauck, “Do They Never Come Back,” 686.

⁶⁴
Virgil,
Georg.
2.535;
Aen.
6.738; Horace,
Carm. 7;
Cicero,
Att.
6.5; Suetonius,
Dom.
4;
Sib. Or.
2.18; 13.45; 14.108; Caird,
Revelation of St. John,
216; Keener,
Revelation,
408 n. 21.

⁶⁵
Collins,
Crisis and Catharsis,
57—58; J. N. Kraybill,
Imperial Cult and Commerce in John's Apocalypse,
JSNTSup 127 (Sheffield: Sheffield Academic Press, 1996), 142—47; H. Giesen,
Studien zur Johannesapokalypse,
SBAB 29 (Stuttgart: Katholisches Bibelwerk, 2000), 238—40; S. J. Friesen,
Imperial Cults and the Apocalypse of John: Reading Revelation in the Ruins
(Oxford: University Press, 2001), 138-40.

⁶⁶
See J. J. Collins,
The Apocalyptic Imagination,
2d ed. (Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 1998), 196.

⁶⁷
Ibid., 234.

⁶⁸
The use of the term “fallen” may suggest those who have died a violent death. See Aune,
Revelation 17—22,
949; E. S. Fiorenza,
Revelation: Vision of a Just World
(Minneapolis: Fortress, 1991),
97.

⁶⁹
Suetonius,
Jul.
1.1; Dio Chrysostom
Or. 34.7;
Josephus,
Ant.
18.32, 225; 4 Ezra 11-12; Sib.
Or.
5.12; cf. Bell, “Date of John's Apocalypse,” 98.

⁷⁰
Robinson,
Redating,
242—53; Bell, “Date of John's Apocalypse,” 97—100; C. Rowland,
The Open Heaven: A Study of Apocalyptic in Judaism and Early Christianity
(New York: Crossroad, 1982), 404—7; Gentry,
Before Jerusalem Fell,
146—65; Wilson, “Problem of the Domitianic Date,” 599-602; T. B. Slater, “Dating the Apocalypse to John,”
Bib
84 (2003): 255-56.

⁷¹
See Aune,
Revelation 17-22,
947-48; Beale,
Book of Revelation,
874.

⁷²
Swete,
Revelation,
220—21; Charles,
Revelation of St. John,
2.69—70; Ford,
Revelation,
290; Smalley,
Thunder and Love,
47—48; Prigent,
Commentary on the Apocalypse,
493.

⁷³
Smalley,
Thunder and Love,
47—48. Another attempt came from Strobel, “Abfassung und Geschichtstheologie,” 437-39.

⁷⁴
Beckwith,
Apocalypse of John,
704—8; Beasley-Murray,
Book of Revelation,
256—57; Caird,
Revelation of St. John,
218-19; Mounce,
Book of Revelation,
315; Swete,
Revelation,
257; Aune,
Revelation 17—22,
948—49; Beale,
Book of Revelation,
867-80.

⁷⁵
See Caird,
Revelation of St. John,
218.

⁷⁶
Keener,
Revelation,
409; Aune,
Revelation 17—22,
948; Beale,
Book of Revelation,
868.

⁷⁷
See Isa 2:2; Jer 51:25; Ezek 35:3; Dan 2:35,45; Zech 4:7;
1 Enoch
52;
Tg. Isa.
41:15; cf. esp. Beale,
Book of Revelation,
868-69.

⁷⁸
One possible reconstruction of the seven “heads” along these lines would be that the first five heads represent the five empires that have fallen, that is, Egypt, Assyria, Babylon, Persia, and Greece; that the “one that is” (17:10) is Rome; and that the head that came to life and is still future is a revived Roman empire.

⁷⁹
F. J. A. Hort,
The Apocalypse of St. John
(London: Macmillan, 1908), xviii. Hort suggested that Epiphanius may have been depending on Hippolytus (c. 170—236) and meant Claudius Nero. Cf. J. A. T. Robinson,
Redating the New Testament
(Philadelphia: Westminster, 1976), 224; K. L. Gentry,
Before Jerusalem Fell: Dating the Book of Revelation,
rev. ed. (Powder Springs: American Vision, 1998), 104—5.

⁸⁰
See B. M. Metzger and B. D. Ehrman,
The Text of the New Testament: Its Transmission, Corruption, and Restoration,
4th ed. (New York/Oxford: Oxford Univ. Press, 2005), 99—100; Swete,
Revelation,
cxciii—cxciv.

⁸¹
Theophylact,
Praef. in Ioann.
Elsewhere, Theophylact indicated that John wrote during the reign of Trajan
(On Matt 20:22).

⁸²
Irenaeus,
Against Heresies
2.22.5. See Charles,
Revelation of St. John,
1.xcii; R. H. Mounce,
The Book of Revelation,
NICNT (Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 1977), 31 n. 37.

⁸³
Irenaeus,
Against Heresies
5.30.3; Clement of Alexandria,
Quis dives salvetur
42; Origen,
Homily on Matthew
16.6; Victorinus,
Apocalypse
10.11; Eusebius, Eccl
. Hist.
3.18; 3.20; Jerome,
De Viris illustribus
9.

⁸⁴
Melito of Sardis (died c. 190) also supported a Domitianic dating as recorded by Eusebius
(Eccl. Hist.
4.26.9). He wrote a commentary on Revelation and in his protest against Marcus Aurelius argued that Nero and Domitian unjustly persecuted Christians. See Charles,
Revelation of St. John,
1.xcii.

⁸⁵
See Gentry,
Before Jerusalem Fell,
45—46.

⁸⁶
Against J. C. Wilson, “The Problem of the Domitianic Date of Revelation,”
NTS
39 (1993): 592; L. L. Welborn, “On the Date of First Clement,”
BibRes
29 (1984): 35—54. Despite these two authors who question the Domitianic date for 1
Clement,
the scholarly consensus favors a mid-90 date. See Beale,
Book of Revelation,
16; T. J. Herron, “The Most Probable Date of the First Epistle of Clement to the Corinthians,” in
Studia Patristica: Tertullian to Nicaea in the West, Clement of Alexandria and Origen, Athanasius, ed.
E. A. Livingstone (Louvain: Peeters, 1989), 106—21.

⁸⁷
Clement,
Quis div. salv.
42; cf. Eusebius,
Eccl. Hist.
3.23.5-19.

⁸⁸
Eusebius,
Eccl. Hist.
3.23.1; cf. Aune,
Revelation 1—5,
lix. On the release of those banished under Domitian, see Pliny,
Ep.
1.5.10; 9.13.5; Dio Chrysostom,
Or.
13.

⁸⁹
Tacitus,
Agr.
3; cf Thompson,
Book of Revelation,
110—11.

⁹⁰
For a detailed argument positing Nero as the tyrant, see Gentry,
Before Jerusalem Fell,
69—83. He showed that Nero was frequently labeled “tyrant” by Roman historians, but he failed to be convincing because those same historians also malign Domitian as a tyrant.

⁹¹
Eusebius,
Chron.
PG 19.551—52; Aune,
Revelation 1—5,
lix.

⁹²
Eusebius,
Eccl. Hist.
3.17.1; 3.18.4; he also (ibid., 3.20.7) cited Tertullian
(Apol.
5) who stated, “Domitian also tried to do the same as he, for he was a Nero in cruelty, but, I believe, in as much as he had some sense, he stopped at once and recalled those whom he had banished.”