“The greatest threat the hearers face is to be found unprepared to encounter God or God’s Christ at his coming (6:12–17), thus being exposed to the threat of the “second death” (2:11) or being written out of the “Book of Life” (3:5).” — David A. Desilva Copy Share Image
“The cities of Asia Minor were as enthusiastic and as invested in hosting the imperial cult as modern cities are about convincing a major… — David A. Desilva Copy Share Image
“The greatest threat the hearers face is to be found unprepared to encounter God or God’s Christ at his coming (6:12–17), thus being exposed… — David A. Desilva Copy Share Image
“This tenet, however, ignores the primary purpose of prophecy, which is not to give hard and fast statements about an unchangeable future, but to… — David A. Desilva Copy Share Image
“While such prophecy could include a predictive element, it was also—and perhaps primarily—a declaration of God’s action in the present or an announcement of God’s evaluation of the present actions of God’s people, diagnosing problems and calling for realignment with God’s values. Prophecy is essentially a “word of the Lord” breaking into the situation of the Lord’s people who need… — David A. Desilva Copy Share
“The title “Lord of lords,” for example, was ascribed to the emperor; the acclamations of God and Christ as “worthy” (4:11; 5:9) echo the sorts of acclamations with which citizens greeted their emperor. And Zeus or Jupiter, the highest god whose power stood behind the emperor, was lauded with the formula “Zeus was, Zeus is, Zeus will be, O great… — David A. Desilva Copy Share
“John exposes Pax Romana and Pax Augusta to be bald-faced lies. He does not allow his hearers to ignore the fact that a great deal of violence has gone into creating and sustaining empire, for example, in the brutal suppression of the Jewish Revolt. How is it truly a matter of “peace” if you use overwhelming force to subdue a… — David A. Desilva Copy Share
“John would have disciples in every age understand—and live like they understand—that they exist to do God’s bidding, because God created all things for… — David A. Desilva Copy Share Image
“A grounded and responsible reading of Revelation begins with reading it first as we would read Paul’s Letters to the Galatians or Philippians or… — David A. Desilva Copy Share Image
“In John’s vision of the cosmos, there is no room for gathering around God’s throne at one time as one’s cosmic center and at… — David A. Desilva Copy Share Image
“Thus apocalypses set an audience’s space within the context of a larger, invisible world, and they set the audience’s time in the context of… — David A. Desilva Copy Share Image
“We have sought to read Revelation less as a coded text to be interpreted, and more as a text that imposed a Christ-centered interpretation… — David A. Desilva Copy Share Image
“In many instances, however, I would expect such instances of discomfort to draw our attention to the ways in which we have drunk deep… — David A. Desilva Copy Share Image
