Book of Revelation

I have found a love for the last book in the Bible such as I have never had. The turning point has been Richard Bauckham's The Theology of the Book of Revelation (Cambridge University Press, 1993). My guess is the Bauckham knows as much about this book as anyone, and this short work is in part a distillation of years of massive and loving study of Revelation.

Here is a taste of how Bauckham brings out the meaning of Revelation for all generations. He shows that the image of the 144,000 (7:2 and 14:1-5) is a symbol of the church, portrayed as the Messiah's army who combats idolatry not with material weapons but by means of moral uprightness, their faithful testimony, and their following the Lamb wherever he goes, including to the death.

Then he suggests that the multitude that no one can number in 7:9-17 is also a symbol of the church, redeemed from all nations and peoples to worship God and the Lamb.

Finally, the two witnesses in 11:1-13 are also a symbol representing the church in its prophetic witness to the pagan nations, in the lineage of Moses and Elijah. They preach repentance to all the nations and peoples, who repent and begin to worship the one true God.

So the 144,000 = the countless multitude for all nations = the two witnesses who bring the nations to repentance and true faith = the church, the people of God in all times and places, including you and me. Far from leading us to speculate about who the 144,000 or the two witnesses might be in some future time with no relation to us, Bauckham's sensitive discernment of the imagery of revelation draws us right into the mission of God here and now.