The Bible and the Dead Sea Scrolls: The ... - josephprestonkirk

LOREN L. JOHNS 277
In the end, it is the Christology of the Apocalypse that serves as the
prism through which many of the traditional symbol systems come to be
refracted and redefined in the Apocalypse. Thus, no comparison of the
Apocalypse with the Dead Sea Scrolls can afford to ignore what happens
to symbols when one views them in light of understanding Jesus as
Messiah.
We see this in John’s use of the combat myth: the slaughtered Lamb
is the key to the unfolding of history. His death and resurrection represent
and embody God’s decisive victory over evil. This Christology is
also the key to ethics in the Apocalypse in a way that is unparalleled in
the scrolls. The Asian Christians are to follow the Lamb wherever he
goes, to be faithful witnesses unto death. Battle scenes are abortive in
Revelation, since the real victory is already in the past. The variety of
messianic expectations in the scrolls is more focused in Revelation, since
Jesus is identified there as the Messiah who forms a kingdom of priests
who reign (1:6; 5:10; 20:6). And the advent of the new Jerusalem is additionally
interpreted as a marriage of the Lamb with his bride.
The Christology of the Apocalypse has significantly shaped John’s
inherited traditions. The rhetorical force of the combat myth is turned
nearly upside down by the Lamb Christology. In Bauckham’s words,
“Insofar as the Jewish hopes, rooted in [the] Scriptures, were for the victory
of God over evil, [Rev] 5:6 draws on other Old Testament Scriptures
to show how they have been fulfilled in Jesus.” 68 The believers are to conquer
in the same way as the Lamb conquered, making use of the combat
myth, but ultimately vitiating it. Thus, determining as closely as possible
the exact nature, force, and extent of the reinterpretation of symbols and
traditions becomes a crucial matter in the interpretation of Revelation. 69
Near the beginning of this essay, we mentioned briefly the value of
comparing the ways in which these literatures construct their symbolic
worlds. While such a task is clearly complex and beyond the scope of this
essay, a few preliminary remarks are in order here. At the center of the
symbolic universe sketched by the Apocalypse lies the key throne-room
scene in Revelation 4–5. And at the center of that scene lies the riveting
revelation of the only one in the universe who is found worthy to take
67. See Newsom, “Angelic Liturgy,” 296–97.
68. Bauckham, ibid., 215.
69. On the importance of transference and redefinition in the interpretation of
Revelation, see James H. Charlesworth, “The Apocalypse of John: Its Theology and
Impact on Subsequent Apocalypses,” in The New Testament Apocrypha and Pseudepigrapha:
A Guide to Publications, with Excursuses on Apocalypses (ed. J. H. Charlesworth; Chicago:
American Theological Library Association, 1987), 19–51 (pt. 2).