A couple years ago some of us at St Dunstan’s (Madison WI) spent a number of weeks reading Revelation together. That sparked multiple questions, and ended up prompting this paper.

A number of texts in Rev. 21-22 including kings bringing their glory into the New Jerusalem (21:24), the tree of life whose leaves are for “the healing of the nations” (22:2), as well as the lists of those excluded (21:8, 27; 22:15) might suggest that in this new heaven and earth the conversion of the nations is still underway. Under the usual reading of Rev. 20 conversion is no longer an issue, and the witness of these texts is muted. But Old Testament visions of the “New Jerusalem” (Isa. 2 and 65 in particular, but also elements in Ezek. 40-48) suggest that these texts are central to New Jerusalem’s role. Equally important: these visions suggest not so much the “end of history” as its definitive reset. This essay reviews Bauckham’s treatment of the conversion of the nations in Revelation, reviews current treatments of the above-mentioned texts, recalls a series of “New Jerusalem” texts in the Old Testament potentially relevant to our reading of Rev. 21-22, offers a revised description of New Jerusalem’s role in Rev. 21-22, and explores some implications of this revised description for the reading of the rest of Revelation.

The Conversion of the nations

In the last two chapters of Revelation John sees a new heaven, a new earth, and the new Jerusalem, receives an angelically-guided presentation of the new Jerusalem, formally parallel to the angelically-guided presentation of Babylon (17:1-19:10); and the book concludes.[1] Within these chapters there are a number of verses—printed in the handout—that interpreters often find problematic and that relate thematically to the conversion of the nations.

By way of introduction, recall Bauckham’s “The Conversion of the Nations” in his book The Climax of Prophecy (1993). He writes: “the question of the conversion of the nations—not only whether it will take place but also how it will take place—is at the centre of the prophetic message of Revelation” (1993, 238). That such a conversion takes place is evident in texts like Rev. 7:9ff (“a great multitude…from every nation, from all tribes and peoples and languages”).[2] How this takes place is less clear. For Bauckham chapter 11 is key: after the two witnesses appear, are martyred, and are vindicated, “the rest [of the city’s inhabitants] were terrified and gave glory to the God of heaven” (v.13). The repentance the judgments fail to elicit is secured by martyrdom. It’s an attractive reading, but I wonder if Bauckham doesn’t slide too easily over the great earthquake that accompanies the witnesses’ ascension: terror and giving glory to the God of heaven might as easily follow from the earthquake. Nevertheless, I want to stay with Bauckham’s question: how the conversion of the nations happens.

Loose ends in Rev. 21-22

By most accounts, if conversion happens, it happens before the great white throne (20:11-15). That looks like the final sorting out of the righteous and wicked, which brings us, in turn, to the verses in the handout.

After the New Jerusalem is introduced at the beginning of ch. 21, we encounter these verses that suggest the continuing presence of both evil and healing:

21⁷ Those who conquer will inherit these things, and I will be their God and they will be my children. ⁸ But as for the cowardly, the faithless, the polluted, the murderers, the fornicators, the sorcerers, the idolaters, and all liars, their place will be in the lake that burns with fire and sulfur, which is the second death. (italics mine)

21¹² It has a great, high wall with twelve gates, and at the gates twelve angels, and on the gates are inscribed the names of the twelve tribes of the Israelites;

21²⁴ The nations will walk by its light, and the kings of the earth will bring their glory into it. ²⁵ Its gates will never be shut by day– and there will be no night there. ²⁶ People will bring into it the glory and the honor of the nations.

21²⁷ But nothing unclean will enter it, nor anyone who practices abomination or falsehood, but only those who are written in the Lamb’s book of life.

22^2b On either side of the river is the tree of life with its twelve kinds of fruit, producing its fruit each month; and the leaves of the tree are for the healing of the nations.

22¹⁵ Outside are the dogs and sorcerers and fornicators and murderers and idolaters, and everyone who loves and practices falsehood.

Why are the wicked still onstage, with angels guarding the gates of the city? Weren’t the kings of the earth dispatched in chapter 19? So Charles in his 1920 commentary wrote of Rev. 20:4-22:21 “These chapters have hitherto been a constant source of insurmountable difficulty to the exegete. They are full of confusion and contradiction if the text is honestly dealt with” (1920, II.144).

Interpretive strategies

We might say that there are two strategies for dealing with these texts. The first seeks a congruent text in Rev. 19:11ff in which Charles’ “confusion and contradiction” are eliminated; the second recognizes a semi-congruent text, which implies, in turn, a different way of understanding how the visions work. Examples of the first strategy would include

• Source-critical analyses in which each source presents a sequential arrangement, the strategy Charles attributes to “most of the leading German scholars of the past thirty years” (1920, II.146)
• Large-scale rearrangements of the text, e.g., Charles, who attributes the editing of 20:4-22:21 to “a faithful but unintelligent disciple” (1920, II.147). Charles repositions all but 21:7-8 in the list just cited in chapter 20, a description of millennial[3]
• Placement of the lake of fire outside the city walls such that its inhabitants can enter the city, e.g., Rissi.[4] But nothing in the text itself suggests the possibility of this spatial collocation.
• Alternative readings that neutralize the problematic verses.[5]

As examples of these neutralizing readings we might note the following:

Rev 22:2. Aune (on the leaves): “The allusion is simply mechanical, however, since there is no real place in the eschatological scheme of Revelation for ‘the healing of the nations’ construed as their conversion” (1998, III.1178).[6]

Rev. 22:15. Caird (on the “outside”): “When the new heaven and earth finally comes, there will be no outside for them to occupy; they will have disappeared into oblivion” (1966, 286).[7]

Leaving 21:8 aside (set in the future from the perspective of the hearers), these neutralizing interpretations fail to convince. So commentators may—sometimes apologetically—leave these tensions in place.[8] I would argue that left in place, these verses contribute to a coherent vision within chapters 21-22, which we can bring into focus recalling some of the Old Testament visions of a “New Jerusalem.”

Old Testament visions of the New Jerusalem and Revelation 21-22

Rev. 21:1-8

Isaiah 65:17-25 opens with this divine declaration:

For I am about to create new heavens and a new earth;
the former things shall not be remembered or come to mind. (Isa. 65:17)

This suggests a global project. But the following verses focus on Jerusalem (“I am about to create Jerusalem as a joy” v.18), and the oracle ends speaking of “my holy mountain.” So the preparation of this essay has me wondering about how these global and Jerusalem-centric notes hold together.

What’s interesting about the oracle for our purposes is the description of what is new:

²¹ They shall build houses and inhabit them;
they shall plant vineyards and eat their fruit.
²² They shall not build and another inhabit;
they shall not plant and another eat;
for like the days of a tree shall the days of my people be,
and my chosen shall long enjoy the work of their hands. (Isa. 65:21-22)

In this text’s world—like the world in which most folk live today—you can’t assume that if you build a house you’ll live in it, or eat the fruit of what you’ve planted. Who knows when a lawyer from the capital or an armed band will show up? That assumption is so far from daily experience that it would mean nothing less than “new heavens and a new earth.” Here we’re pretty clearly dealing with renewal of the existing cosmos, rather than replacement.[9] This may help us calibrate John’s language of “a new heaven and a new earth” (21:1).[10]

Rev. 21:9-22:9

In v.12 we encounter “and at the gates twelve angels.” Isa. 62:6 (“Upon your walls, O Jerusalem, I have posted sentinels”) is often identified as the allusion, an identification strengthened by rabbinic interpretations of these sentinels as angelic.[11] The more interesting question is why introduce angels at all, and the probable answer is that this is another example of John transposing and augmenting Ezekiel’s vision of the temple to the city.[12] Ezekiel’s temple gates look very much like the elaborate and very defensible city gates of Gezer, Hazor, and Megiddo.[13] Nothing unclean will pass. John goes Ezekiel one better: angels, the basis for the confident assertions in 21:27 and 22:15.

Turning to vv.24-27, what the God who dwells in Jerusalem will finally do with the nations is, perhaps, one of the more difficult open questions in the Old Testament, depending on both divine and human decisions. In Revelation we hear “The nations will walk by its light, and the kings of the earth will bring their glory into it” (21:24), which captures two important elements we meet in Isaiah.[14] For the first part, recall Isa. 2:2-4

² In days to come
the mountain of the LORD’s house
shall be established as the highest of the mountains,
and shall be raised above the hills;
all the nations shall stream to it.
³ Many peoples shall come and say,
“Come, let us go up to the mountain of the LORD,
to the house of the God of Jacob;
that he may teach us his ways
and that we may walk in his paths.”
For out of Zion shall go forth instruction,
and the word of the LORD from Jerusalem.
⁴ He shall judge between the nations,
and shall arbitrate for many peoples;
they shall beat their swords into plowshares,
and their spears into pruning hooks;
nation shall not lift up sword against nation,
neither shall they learn war any more. (Isa. 2:2-4)

This text, present also in Micah, could take the lion’s share of our time. On the one hand, it echoes the various ways Zion theology appropriated the cosmic mountain traditions.[15] On the other, it echoes a specifically Israelite sense of mission evident in texts like Gen. 12:1-3, Deut. 4:6, and Ps. 87. So Ps. 87:4: “Among those who know me I mention Rahab and Babylon; / Philistia too, and Tyre, with Ethiopia– /’This one was born there,’ they say.” This is, I think, one of the more profound visions of what Jerusalem is for.

In Rev. 21:4 notice “will walk by its light.” Bauckham argues that John’s allusion to Isa. 60:3 is colored by Isa 2:3, 5 so that “[t]he glory of God as the light of the New Jerusalem is not just a beacon that attracts the nations to it. It is the light by which they live” (1993, 315).

As for the second part of Rev. 21:24, consider:

³ Nations shall come to your light,
and kings to the brightness of your dawn.
⁴ Lift up your eyes and look around;
they all gather together, they come to you;
your sons shall come from far away,
and your daughters shall be carried on their nurses’ arms.
⁵ Then you shall see and be radiant;
your heart shall thrill and rejoice,
because the abundance of the sea shall be brought to you,
the wealth of the nations shall come to you.
⁶ A multitude of camels shall cover you,
the young camels of Midian and Ephah;
all those from Sheba shall come.
They shall bring gold and frankincense,
and shall proclaim the praise of the LORD. (Isa. 60:3-6)

‘Glory’ (doxa) in Rev. 21:24 can be understood as honor or wealth. I like Mathewson’s suggestion that the ambiguity is intentional (2003, 168). Both the honor and the wealth that formerly flowed to Babylon now flow to Jerusalem. Nor is the double meaning accidental. An integral part of the nations proclaiming the praise of the Lord is the bringing of gold and frankincense. As a later Jewish teacher would put it, “For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also” (Matt. 6:21).

Rev. 22:2 introduces the tree of life, concluding “and the leaves of the tree are for the healing of the nations.” This recalls Ezekiel’s temple vision with that marvelous river that starts under the temple and flows eastward, swelling as it goes, until it turns the Dead Sea sweet. Ezekiel pays particular attention to the trees along the river’s banks:

¹² On the banks, on both sides of the river, there will grow all kinds of trees for food. Their leaves will not wither nor their fruit fail, but they will bear fresh fruit every month, because the water for them flows from the sanctuary. Their fruit will be for food, and their leaves for healing.” (Ezek. 47:12)

John has focused the image: for the healing of the nations. So within the unit 21:9-22:9 this image and that of the nations walking by the light of the city dovetail. There is ongoing instruction and healing.

There are, of course, any number of possible readings of the “new Jerusalems” described in the prophets.[16] The possible reading—selective reading—that, I think, Revelation adopts—is Jerusalem not marking the end of history, but Jerusalem restored so it can play its proper role in the conversion of the nations. Inside, paradise regained, the paradise to which the Jerusalem temple always aspired to witness. Outside, the nations no longer in a position to subvert or destroy Jerusalem, but in a position to receive the gifts of the God who dwells there. So 22:15—the last of the verses listed in the handout—reaffirms Jerusalem’s protection so that it can continue doing its proper work.

In sum, the specific points of continuity between these OT visions and Rev. 21-22:

• Jerusalem restored & protected from future profanation
• The pilgrimage of the nations to Jerusalem to honor the true God
• The pilgrimage of the nations to Jerusalem to receive instruction and healing

In other words, in John’s reading of these Old Testament visions New Jerusalem is the place for the conversion of the nations. There’s life inside and outside the walls, and traffic through the gates. Perhaps all who enter remain inside; perhaps there is traffic in both directions (recalling the survivors sent to the nations in Isa. 66:19) as light and healing are brought out to Rahab, Babylon, Philistia, etc.[17]

At the same time, John does not offer greater detail as to how this works, and I wonder if that too is not important. Georgi makes the intriguing suggestion that the divine speech in 21:5-8 breaks the frame of the vision and is addressed to the entire world, the highpoint of the entire book.[18] The core of the speech is an invitation: “To the thirsty I will give water.” In the nature of invitations human freedom is in play, perhaps precluding greater detail from the seer.

Rev. 19-22

Our exploration of Rev. 21-22 started with various commentators’ treatments of texts in this unit in apparent conflict with the events described in chapters 19-20. If 21-22 portrays a reset of history, where does that leave Rev. 19:11-20:15 in general and the great white throne scene (20:11-15) in particular?

The problem of congruence in Revelation is not new. Multiple fates are described for Babylon (earthquake in 16:19; habitat for desert creatures in 18:2; pestilence, famine, and burning in 18:8; burning with eternally ascending smoke in 19:3), which present problems if interpreted literally (Bauckham, The Theology of the Book of Revelation 1993, 21).[19] There is an ongoing discussion regarding whether the sequences of seals, trumpets, and bowls are to be understood as sequential or more-or-less overlapping.

Rev. 19:11-22:21 likewise resists a congruent reading. There are a series of scenes including the battle in 19:11ff, the great white throne in 20:11ff, the New Jerusalem in 21:9ff. Each is internally congruent; put together, the rough edges are noticeable. It is something like a mixed-media collage. The scenes are presented as sequential; Barr discerns an ancient plot in 12-22.[20] And the semi-coherence of 19:11-22:21 as a whole tells us something about how to read the individual scenes.

Why the semi-coherence? Various answers are possible, and they may be complementary. Koester thinks it reflects multiple possible futures[21] and the author’s strong parenetic concern (2014, 833, 855). Thomas & Macchia: a testimony to divine grace. [22]

It may help to recognize that the pair of scenes depicting Babylon and Jerusalem and the great white throne scene are addressing two quite different questions. The Babylon/Jerusalem pair addresses the question of where human history is headed with the corresponding existential question of which city deserves the hearers’ allegiance. The great white throne scene addresses the question of whether individuals will be held to account before the God whom these hearers worship, which has a different sort of existential dimension. John gives clear answers to both questions: human history—despite appearances—is headed toward the New Jerusalem; God will hold all individuals accountable for their actions.

So while the scenes in Rev. 19-22 are presented as sequential, the rough edges signal that the conventions of additional genres may be in play.[23] The Babylon/New Jerusalem and great white throne scenes are something like a series of parables: “It’s like this with the kingdom of God.”

Speaking generally of the imagery of Revelation, Bauckham suggests:

Once we begin to appreciate their sources and their rich symbolic associations, we realize that they cannot be read either as literal descriptions or as encoded literal descriptions, but must be read for their theological meaning and their power to evoke response. (The Theology of the Book of Revelation 1993, 20)

That suggestion speaks to the challenge of reading these scenes. So the reading offered here of Rev. 21-22 as congruent and of Rev. 19:11-22:21 as semi-congruent often parallels that offered by Barr, Bauckham, Koester and Thomas & Macchia.

If something like this is true, the Great White Throne and the New Jerusalem as two distinct and complementary visions of the human future, then perhaps we might recognize the author’s artful mirroring of the beginning of the human story. Genesis opens with two creation accounts. In Genesis 1 everything is properly sorted out. Everything is good. In the creation story in Genesis 2 the good is something to be achieved, and human decisions play a role in the sorting. There is process. Ostensibly they are sequential; substantively, complementary.

The Conversion of the nations

Circling back to the conversion of the nations, I have read the New Jerusalem as a primary means. With the descent of the New Jerusalem the peoples of the earth have a new potential source for orientation. But what are they supposed to do until that happens? That may be where the churches in Revelation 2-3 come in. They too are an eschatological reality, a foretaste of the heavenly Jerusalem. The nations and the rulers don’t need to wait for the descent of the heavenly city. They simply need to pay attention to the churches in Ephesus, Smyrna, Pergamum, etc. And so it is of the utmost importance that they see something useful—hence the passionate exhortations in chapters 2-3. So in the book Isaiah’s vision of the mountain of the Lord’s house becomes the mandate, the blueprint, for these congregations. And the exhortation at the close of that vision is the exhortation addressed to the book’s readers: “O house of Jacob, / come, let us walk / in the light of the Lord” (Isa 2:5).

In support of this link between Rev. 2-3 and 21-22 I return to and close with the divine speech in 21:5-8. While it occurs in the context of the vision of the new heaven, earth, and Jerusalem, John is addressed directly: “Write this” (v.5). Both that imperative “write” and “the one who conquers” (v.7) recall the messages to each of the seven churches. In the middle: v. 6b “To the thirsty I will give water as a gift from the spring of the water of life.” That invitation is often linked to Isa. 55:1 and various Johannine texts.[24] Its fulfillment lies in the future—but not exclusively in the future. The Johannine echoes with their realized eschatology remind the hearer that that water is on offer now: in Ephesus, Smyrna, Pergamum, etc.

In this paper I’ve tried to bring John’s vision into focus. Interpretation of that vision is a separate task. What might that look like? Like the New Jerusalem in John’s vision, the churches in Ephesus, Smyrna, Pergamum, Thyatira, Sardis, Philadelphia, and Laodicea have been called and equipped also for the conversion of the nations.  The New Jerusalem, the seven churches: they are perhaps the same primary means for that conversion.

Works Cited

Aune, David E. Revelation. III vols. Nashville: Thomas Nelson, 1998.

Barr, David L. Tales of the End: A Narrative Commentary on the Book of Revelation. 2^nd edition. Salem OR: Polebridge Press, 2012.

Bauckham, Richard. The Climax of Prophecy. London: T & T Clark, 1993.

—. The Theology of the Book of Revelation. Cambridge: Cambridge U P, 1993.

Beale, G. K. The Book of Revelation. Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 1999.

Boring, M. Eugene. Revelation. Louisville: John Knox, 1989.

Caird, G. B. The Revelation of St. John the Divine. New York: Harper & Row, 1966.

Charles, R. H. A Critical and Exegetical Commentary on the Revelation of St. John. II vols. New York: Charles Scribner’s Sons, 1920.

Ford, J. Massyngberde. Revelation. Garden City: Doubleday, 1975.

Georgi, Dieter. “Die Visionen vom himmlischen Jerusalem in Apk 21 und 22.” In Kirche: Festschrift für Günther Bornkamm zum 75. Geburtstag, by D Lührman, & G. Strecker (eds), 351-72. Tübingen: J. C. B. Mohr, 1980.

Koester, Craig R. Revelation. New Haven: Yale University Press, 2014.

Levenson, Jon D. Sinai and Zion. San Francisco: HarperCollins, 1985.

Mathewson, David. A New Heaven and a New Earth: The Meaning and Function of the Old Testament in Revelation 21.1-22.5. London: Sheffield Academic Press, 2003.

Rissi, Mathias. The Future of the world: An Exegetical study of Revelation 19:11-22:15. Naperville IL: Alec R. Allenson Inc., 1972.

Rowland, Christopher C. The Book of Revelation. Vol. X, in The New Interpreter’s Bible Commentary, edited by Leander E. Keck, 915-1105. Nashville: Abingdon, 2015.

Smalley, Stephen S. The Revelation to John: A Commentary on the Greek Text of the Apocalypse. London: SPCK, 2005.

Thomas, John Christopher, and Frank D. Macchia. Revelation. Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 2016.

Tõniste, Külli. The Ending of the Canon: A Canonical and Intertextual Reading of Revelation 21-22. London: Bloomsbury, 2016.

Zimmerli, Walther. Ezekiel. II vols. Philadelphia: Fortress, 1983.

 

[1] Rev. 21:1-8, 21:9-22:9 and 22:10-21, although there is little agreement as to when the “end matter” begins.

[2] All citations are from the NRSV unless otherwise indicated.

[3] Gaechter and Ford, building on Charles, take all the verses listed above as a description of millennial Jerusalem (Ford 1975, xv, 38-39).

[4] Rissi on Rev. 21:8: it “makes clear how John conceives of the ‘outside’: an existence in the lake of fire” (1972, 68). Later: “the world outside the walls of Jerusalem is the lake of fire…John announces nothing less than that even for this world of the lost the doors remain open” (1972, 74) (italics mine).

[5] Rev. 21:7-8. It’s a given that one of the aims of chapters 4-22 is to motivate obedience to the exhortations of chapters 2-3. (Boring (1989, 217) and Thomas & Macchia, citing Gundry and Murphy, (2016, 370) argue that the list is tailored to reflect the challenges faced by the book’s audience.) It is not difficult to understand this verse in these terms: the future orientation of vv.7-8 reflecting the perspective of the audience rather than conflicting sequentially with the consignment of the unrighteous to the lake of fire in 20:15.^[5] (Cf. Rowland, who appeals at this point to “the poetic license of apocalypse” (2015, 1091).) Were this the only problematic text we’d be having a different conversation.

Rev. 21:12. In any other context we would recognize the angels as guardians (bouncers), and they are so recognized by some commentators. (Thomas & Macchia (2016, 376). Smalley first recognizes the guarding function (2005, 548), but later discounts it (2005, 559).) But Koester: “Nevertheless the idea that the angels guard the gates is unlikely, since the city descends after the devil and the wicked have been banished and evil no longer threatens” (2014, 814-815).

Rev 21:24-26. Smalley (on the apparent reappearance of the kings): “the seer’s audience is shown believers from every possible background entering into a final covenant fellowship with God through the Lamb” (2005, 559) (italics mine). Tõniste adopts Mounce’s suggestion: “John retained some OT language not entirely appropriate for the new setting” (2016, 175).

[6] Similarly Beale: “[T]here will be no more death or pain to be healed from in the new creation (21:4)” (1999, 1108). Cf. Tõniste: “In this side of the story there is much brokenness in humankind that needs healing, even after God has redeemed and renewed all things. The experiences gained through history will remain with the human kind as painful memories, and they need to be healed continually” (2016, 180).

[7] Likewise Tõniste (2016, 174). Cf. Koester: “read descriptively…the verse is incongruous” (2014, 855).

[8] Bauckham: “the vision of the New Jerusalem supersedes all the visions of judgment and brings to fulfilment the theme of the conversion of the nations which was set out in 11:13; 14:14-16; 15:4” (1993, 318). Smalley “…but even in the dimension of the new Jerusalem there will be those who choose to remain outside its gates (21.26-27; 22.15), and who will therefore need the opportunity to accept ‘leaves of healing’ by which to embrace God’s universal invitation of love” (2005, 563). Thomas & Macchia: “Perhaps this healing would even include the healing of the wounds of the nations incurred in their rebellion against God and the Lamb” (2016, 388).

[9] Contra Mathewson, who describes the Isaiah text as “ambiguous” (2003, 35). Koester thinks the categories of renewal and replacement inadequate, and he may be right (2014, 803).

[10] While John does not focus on justice and righteousness in the same way that Isaiah does, John’s list of merchandise in that global economy (“gold, silver, jewels…horses and chariots, slaves—and human lives” 18:11-13) is suggestive. Cf. Koester (2014, 795).

[11] Exod. R. 18.5; Pes. R. 35.2; for these and further detail see Mathewson (2003, 103).

[12] Cf. Mathewson: “John’s use of Ezek. 40-48 reveals a propensity to transfer Ezekiel’s temple imagery to the city of Rev. 21” (2003, 102).

[13] See Zimmerli for a comparison of the blueprints (1983, II, 353).

[14] For allusions to additional texts in and outside Isaiah—particularly Zech. 14—see Mathewson (2003, 163-183).

[15] See, conveniently, Levenson (1985, 115ff). For discussion of various expressions of the Völkerwallfahrt traditions see Mathewson (2003, 163-183).

[16] Cf. the brief survey offered by Rissi (1972, 47-51).

[17] Cf. Thomas & Macchia: “This comprehensive understanding of the healing of the nations indicates that provision for the conversion of the nations is part of the very fabric of the New Jerusalem” (2016, 388).

[18] “Der Gottesspruch in Kap. 21 geht über den in Kap. 1 schon der Form nach weit hinaus, den in 21,5-8 is nicht mehr der Seher der Adressat, sondern die ganze Welt. So ist 21,5-8 der Höhepunkt des ganzen Werkes, die krönende Gottesrede. (1980, 359).

[19] Barr counts six tellings of Babylon’s fall (2012, 210).

[20] “Appearance of Dragon or pair of Dragons / Chaos and disorder / The attack / Appearance of the champion / The champion vanquished / The Dragon’s reign / The recovery of the champion / Renewed battle and victory of the champion / Fertility of the restored order / Procession and victory shout / Temple built for the warrior God / Banquet (wedding) / Manifestation of the champion’s universal reign” (2012, 214; cf. 21).

[21] “Revelation provides two contrasting visions of the future.… Both futures remain open; the question is how the world will respond” (2014, 833).

[22] “There is a sense of finality about God’s eschatological judgment in chapter 20, but the open gates facing in the direction of the opposition say something profound about the endurance of the divine offer of grace” (2016, 621).

[23] Barr speaks of rethinking the story (2012, 258; cf. 245).

[24] Specifically, Jn. 4:10-14; 6:35; 7:37-38. See Mathewson for commentaries. Mathewson makes the helpful observation that “as a gift” reflects, specifically, Isa. 55:1 (2003, 80-82).