Kirkus Review of A View from Above

An exhaustive debut study of Christian dogma regarding the end of the world.  

Murphy begins his sprawling, hyper-detailed discussion of Christian Revelation theology by posing larger questions about life: “Have we ever considered just giving up, going along with the crowd, doing what we know we shouldn’t, or ending it all?” he asks. “Are we enticed to succumb to the seductions of culture?” But his conceptual preliminaries are comparatively brief, and he supplants them almost immediately with a protracted, quite scholarly examination of the New Testament’s Book of Revelation in all its various interpretations. Revelation can be “a blessing by keeping us from falling prey to formalism and ritualism,” Murphy writes, but in order to conduct his study, he dissects a great deal of that ritualism. He explicates the many schools of Revelation-related thought, from the preterist view that several of the book’s millennial prophecies have already occurred, to various dispensationalists who believe in metaphorical and partial fulfillments of the prophecies. A great deal of this subject matter is forbiddingly abstruse, but Murphy maintains an evenhanded, approachable narrative voice throughout. He’s enormously talented at breaking down complex information without simplifying it—a fortunate thing in this case, because the Book of Revelation has been generating fiercely complicated commentary for centuries. In it, the majority of the prophecies revolve around the Roman Empire, which the prophet predicts will fall in his own lifetime, and as Murphy points out, this might lead readers to suspect that the book is “merely the creation of a fallible man” with “little if any significance for modern believers.” But with this book, the author effectively asserts his own belief that the work is divinely inspired, not “just another example of the many messages which clamor for our attention,” but rather, underneath its glosses and interpretations, the most important message of all.  

Christian readers, and particularly Bible study groups, will find much to ponder and discuss in these pages.

The U.S. Review of Books

book review of A View from Above by Peter M. Fitzpatrick

"Revelation's symbols are intended to portray meaning rather than literally expressing the details of earthly events."

The author bravely attempts to examine the final book of the Bible, the Book of Revelation, in this hefty tome. The work begins with an amusing seven-page list of historical attempts at using Revelation to predict the end times. The relevance of the book, what prophecy is, and how Jesus changed the Jewish notion of an eternal kingdom are then explored. The relatively recent idea of a "rapture" based on John Nelson Darby's interpretation of Revelation 20 in 1827 is examined and dismissed as unscriptural. The "Antichrist" figure is shown to emerge from the Apostles Paul and John's understanding of Genesis 3:15 and the long list of candidates. This list begins with pagan Roman emperors like Nero and Caligula and continues to the Papacy, which the author points out was common in Protestantism. An examination of how the book relates to martyrs in the first three centuries is looked at as well as the impact of the destruction of Jerusalem in A.D. 70.

The author, who has a B.A. in Bible and Theology as well as a Master of Divinity, successfully employs his educational background in his clear examination of doctrines from Revelation such as preterism, millennialism, postmillennialism, amillennialism, etc. There is a wealth of information included in this book to interest students of the Bible. In short, Murphy's exploration of Revelation is a very level-headed and insightful look at the relevance of this difficult book for a modern audience. It is highly readable and told with a sincerity and skill that will keep the reader interested.

RECOMMENDED by the US Review

Testimonials

“responsible and thoughtful material” (Dr. David A. deSilva)

regarding REFLECTING JESUS

Very thought-provoking (Rev. Jim R., Ohio)

Addresses Revelation differently than other authors (Rev. Ron H., California)

Honest, perfect. . . I now keep in my "favorites" cabinet (Ron M., atty., Texas)

“Reflecting Jesus: Putting Revelation’s Message into Practice” by J. W. Murphy is an exceptional piece of writing. This is the second work from the author, following “A View from Above: Options for Understanding the Revelation of Jesus Christ.” What the author is offering in this sequel is practical application of the Word of God with none of the usual predictions about current news events connected to the predictions of a certain doctrinal commitment. Murphy displays his solid theological training, a very broad reading record on the subject, and a style of writing that is warm, relevant, and engaging. If you are searching for a discussion of Revelation that is a cut above, you should check this one out. About the only book I can think of that compares is Eugene Peterson’s “Reversed Thunder.” (Rev. Jerry H., Indiana)

I loved your book (Wilda G., Virginia)

regarding A VIEW FROM ABOVE

Great book!  Very deep.  Read it again because you’ll find even more treasures than the first time (Kathy H., Florida)

I love the content . . . about the impact of Revelation, [that it is] not just about the ‘end times,’ but the times we are living in currently.  1) It’s practical.  2) It’s timely.  And (3) It’s thorough (Rev. Jason C., Ohio)

Murphy has integrated a great deal of biblical and church-historical information in order to create a . . . helpful guide to the interpretation of Revelation.   His book gives a fine overview of the historical development of many positions taken in the interpretation of Revelation. . . .  His historical perspective allows him to write irenically while also exposing some important fallacies.  It is especially encouraging to find a book that will be an accessible guide.

Dr. David A. deSilva

I had the privilege of proofing much of the original manuscript.  I highly recommend that you consider purchasing and reading this book. It is a textbook worthy to be placed in our Bible colleges and seminaries; an important resource for all believers, but especially for those who have been called by God to instruct others. With so much speculation about the return of Jesus, the time is now for such a resource as this. Moves from details and controversy to the character of God and his eternal plan.  Reminds us all of God’s love and faithfulness. . . .  The life application summaries are extremely well done, inspiring, and faith-building!  It . . . honors God, glorifies Christ, and comforts his people! (Rev. Jim R., Ohio)

You open the Book of Revelation under a different vantage point than most, which makes it enjoyable, challenging, and insightful (Glenn K., Sr., Kansas)

The best book I have read on the subject (Ron M., atty., Texas)

Murphy explains the most popular approaches with a detail and balance rarely found.  [He] writes with a commitment to the authority of the Bible and strives to let the Bible speak above any doctrinal bias (Rev. Jerry H., Florida)

I'm speechless right now, to have the word of God explained in such a way has moved me into my quiet place. Thank You Lord Jesus for leading and guiding me to your word (Carol Ellis)

regarding IN OTHER WORDS

I love your writing. So deep and meaty (Kathy H., Florida)

A Week in the Life of Ephesus, by David A. deSilva (Downers Grove, IL: InterVarsity Press), 2020, 172 pp., ISBN 978-0-8308-2485-4 (print); 978-0-8308-2537-0 (digital)

Students of the NT, and in particular Revelation, will find that this novel grounds biblical characters and places in their ancient settings.  deSilva captures well the stresses and tensions from many sources for those who sought to follow Jesus in a polytheistic society where the religion of the state impacted so much of daily life.  Roman traditionalists, observant Jews, and those who tried to blend Christian faith with everyday social practices all served as a backdrop against which Jesus’ followers carved out the practical implications of their relationship with the Lord.  The storyline condenses and yet faithfully captures the tone of Revelation’s message as it relates to daily affairs.  Those already familiar with the geography, architecture, and religion of first-century Asia Minor will find this account easier to read, but even those with little exposure to Revelation will have no difficulty in following along.  The text is peppered with photos and insets which allow the modern reader to imagine these locales as they were when vibrant with life.  I found "A Week in the Life of Ephesus" to be an imaginative and uplifting story of faith and a call to faithful service in the Lord’s kingdom.

A Slaughtered Lamb: Revelation and the Apocalyptic Response to Evil and Suffering, by Gregory Stevenson (Abilene: Abilene Christian University Press), 2013, 228 pp., ISBN 978089124245

Stevenson orients readers to the questions of evil and suffering in a world governed by a good and powerful God. Our experience of suffering is no indication that God is absent or impotent. But to see God conquering evil by force is to miss the point that such defeat results from the Lamb’s death and “the suffering witness of God’s people.” The government and religion of John’s day exercised, in its own view, a benevolent lordship which deserved “loyalty, obedience, and worship.” Revelation portrays it in league with the devil and deserving judgment. “For those who embrace this story, the kingdom of the world has become the kingdom of our Lord . . . because they now possess a new vision . . . which [enables them to see] the world not merely as they wish it to be, but as it is and will be.” In contrast, those who dwell on the earth (6:10) have oriented themselves toward a kingdom that opposes God’s methodology.

“John reveals that the essence of prophecy is not predictions of the future but the witness of Christ.” The image of a slaughtered Lamb “best represents the divine response to evil and suffering.” In this way He joined humanity in suffering, identifying with rather than standing above us, gained victory over evil and death, and provided a model for us to follow. “Rather than creating a bunker mentality as one awaits the end of days, Revelation calls upon its readers to live lives of faithful and active witness today.” What really matters is one’s faithfulness to the message and methodology of Jesus in every situation. For this reason, “the issue in Revelation is not God opposing our enemies, but whether or not we stand in faithfulness or opposition to God’s kingdom.” The “sealing” in Revelation 7 shows that those who will stand in the end “are those who have shown themselves faithful through their embodiment of the pattern of the Christ.”

Stevenson addresses two faulty assumptions that “suffering must make sense” and that God’s plan “must be concerned first and foremost with the alleviation of my suffering” by showing that “What God offers his followers in this world is not the elimination of their suffering but the strength to endure that suffering in hope.” Those in Revelation who long for what seems to be vengeance are acknowledging that “true justice sometimes requires . . . not the petty revenge borne out of resentment or selfish desires or hurt feelings, but the divine vengeance that acts to bring order out of chaos and to set right what has gone horribly wrong.”

“The glorification of the saints in Revelation is about taking up a place of service in the kingdom of God (3:12; 7:15; 22:3).” John’s “combination of exodus and cross . . . unmasks the pretensions of the kingdom of the world where military might and worldly power pave the way to victory. . . . Just as John can assert that Smyrna’s poverty is in fact wealth (2:9), that the reputation of ‘life’ enjoyed by the church at Sardis is really death (3:1), and that Laodicea’s prosperity is really poverty (3:17), he tells us that weakness is in fact power.” “Reading Revelation as Scripture means letting it challenge our beliefs and ideologies, not cater to them.”

“Reigning forever and ever in the new Jerusalem means being a faithful servant of God.” To “keep” Revelation’s words “is to embody in one’s own life the pattern of the Christ. . . . Out of death, God brings new life; out of an ending, God brings new beginning; out of destruction, God brings new creation!”

Apocalypse and Allegiance: Worship, Politics, and Devotion in the Book of Revelation, by J. Nelson Kraybill (Grand Rapids: Brazos Press), 2010, 193 pp., ISBN 978-1-58743-261-3

Each chapter concludes with questions for reflection and a “living the vision” illustration. Kraybill provides photos of archaeological evidence as well as citations from ancient documents to support his points. Though we sometimes think reality and symbol can’t be the same, he notes there’s no conflict between the two and symbolic language can well be used to express reality. He explains how the two eons referred to in the New Testament are not consecutive but overlapping. They now exist at the same time but are quite different in nature. This present age is passing away (1 Cor. 7:31) and the last days have begun with the ministry of Jesus (Heb. 1:1-2).

Kraybill asks, “are the gods we worship so embedded within our culture that we fail to recognize them?” This happens because evil usually shrouds itself with the good. Our challenge “is to recognize the good in society . . . without being so enamored of it that we fail to see when our own country acts like a beast.” He aligns with those who see Revelation’s evil as larger than Nero’s reign, for “any human entity that usurps allegiance that belongs to God is beastly.”

When we see it, we get angry. Revelation contains anger at evil, sin, cruelty, injustice, greed, and so on. It’s healthy to be angry at such things. “But the point made in Revelation is that in God’s own time and way, things will be made right.” When God fully revealed Himself, it was not “with brawn and bluster to match the muscle of Rome, but with the seeming weakness and vulnerability of a Lamb.” Therefore, “It is not our role as followers of the Lamb to answer violence with violence or to force matters with our own hands.” To be the conqueror Revelation calls us to be is “to consistently resist the threats and allurements of empire and remain loyal to the Lamb, even in the face of death.”

Change begins when individuals are transformed by God and moves outward in concentric circles to ultimately impact the world. The gradual pace of such progress “tempts us to abandon the way of the Lamb and take ethical shortcuts. [Though Jesus calls us] to put away the sword, to lay up treasure in heaven, and to love the enemy[,] when terrorists strike, or when we fear for our security, the dominant culture socializes us to be ‘realistic.’ We want short-term, surefire ways to alleviate fear and insecurity. But [the Christian view of the future] takes a long-term view of change.”

Our gatherings for worship are to be the base from which we counter-attack “the powerfully convincing claims” of this world, struggling by the Lamb’s strategy “to win the hearts and minds of peoples and nations.” Revelation’s symbols of beast, prostitute, Babylon, and dragon can make us aware “of structural evil and the malevolent source of sin.” Rather than using these symbols “to beat up on national or tribal foes”, we should first consider if we may be living in Babylon and what it means to “come out of her, my people.”

Joy in Our Weakness: a Gift of Hope from the Book of Revelation, by Marva Dawn (Grand Rapids: Eerdmans), 2002, 217 pp., ISBN 978-0-8028-6069-9

Dr. Dawn reminds us that our ability to act and effect change can hinder our awareness of how helpless we are before God. Relationship with Him depends on grace, so it’s only by relying on it that we’re able to function as His servants. Those who follow Jesus must use His strategy for overcoming evil, by waiting for God’s timing, overcoming evil with love, and responding with gentleness instead of violence. In this alien world of alien values we wrestle “against beasts and dragons and the spiritual hosts of wickedness in the heavenly places, embodied in various contemporary temptations.”

She examines the congregations of Revelation and various images throughout the book. Since “we are constantly tempted to give undue authority to national powers and cultural idolatries[,] . . . Revelation calls us back to the priority of Christ, the only true source for our values and choices.” “Are we choosing the kingdom values whenever we shop? in the way we use our leisure time? in our selection of occupations? in our attitude toward the community of saints in which we are growing?” If we don’t practice His way of life, we don’t experience His Spirit at work in us. If we unwittingly submit to other gods, we fail to appreciate His loving presence. But to do God’s will in God’s way is to experience intimacy with Jesus. “To be followers of Jesus means that we are willing to suffer for others as He did.”

Revelation often calls for patient endurance, which is not just waiting for things to change but the kind of bearing up under hardship that’s “made possible by the knowledge that the Lord is there with us!” Dr. Dawn points out that in the past Jesus became flesh and tabernacled among us (John 1:14), displaying God’s glory, and in the future God will tabernacle with us again (Rev. 7:15). But in the present, while we suffer in our weakness, the power of Christ tabernacles in us now (2 Cor. 12:7b-12)! To the degree that we trust “God will work through our situations for His very best purposes, we [are] able to wait for His revelation and timing and control.” Thus we are able to ask the challenging question: “How can my life manifest God’s Lordship, no matter what my circumstances might be?”

We are called “to live the principles of God’s kingdom now, whether or not that matches the ethos of our society . . . . [and] to stand as a witnessing people against the lifestyles of a world that wears the mark of the beast.” Rather than fearing how the beast’s mark might one day be fulfilled, “let us be vigilant against the ways in which it is constantly displayed whenever we divinize human things in our lives, whenever we let that which might have been good become corrupted and beastly/demonic.” “We dare not read The Revelation to find out who to blame as a beast having ten heads. We can read it only to know our own idolatries and sins and to repent for them with humility and grief. . . . It is a book for the weak⸺those who know they have fallen and need redemption and grace.”

No stranger to personal weakness and even suffering, Dawn writes that we don’t choose to suffer when its unnecessary. But “if our faithfulness to God’s purposes involves suffering, then we willingly bear that cross . . . for the mission of the kingdom.” “[A] theology of weakness creates a life of great joy. Even in the midst of the direst of sufferings, we can know the joy of . . . Christ’s infinite love for us and of our relationship with Him. . . . [W]e rejoice with an exceedingly great Joy, which our human existence cannot otherwise know.” 

Revelation and the End of All Things, by Craig Koester (Grand Rapids: Eerdmans), 2001, 205 pp., ISBN 978-0-8028-4660-0

Koester begins with a brief and helpful review of Revelation’s various interpretations, cautioning us about claiming we found another key to understanding its mysteries. Regardless of predictive insights, an authentic prophet always promotes faithful commitment to God. Revelation speaks not only to those threatened by persecution, but to those whose prosperity has made them complacent and to those inclined to become like their culture by dulling the claims of their faith. If they are persecuted, conquering may require faithfulness unto death. If they have become complacent, conquering begins by waking up to how their commitment has cooled.

While humans often conquer “by inflicting death and damage . . . . the Lamb works differently.” By faithfully enduring death, His conquest brings people around the world into relationship with God. The mystery of God (10:7), then, is not so much God’s goal of salvation as it is the means by which it is achieved. Rev. 11 shows “how the suffering of God’s servants mysteriously helps to bring about the conversion of the ungodly.” For God’s will is that the world be saved rather than destroyed, and it is “[t]he witness, death, and vindication of the community of faith” that brings about what judgment alone could not achieve.

At those times when evil seems so widespread as to be unstoppable, believers who remain faithful by refusing “to give up their commitments ‘conquer’ Satan, because they do not submit to his will.” “Revelation does not call readers to endure in the hope of some day being listed among the redeemed, but urges readers to persevere because God has already claimed them and does not want them to fall away.” Despite the frenzy about the mark of the beast, all people in Revelation are marked⸺not with a visible sign (any more than the false prophet’s horns are visible) but by the commitments in the lives of the persons who bear them.

Revelation asserts the reality of judgment but also the reality that it can be averted. “God does not want the nations of the world to be lured into allying themselves with the powers of evil (13:7-8), but neither does he want the nations to be destroyed. Instead, God’s desire is for the conversion of the nations, so that they join in the cosmic chorus of praise that is his will for the world (5:11-14).” The fact that evil self-destructs is evident in the text. But rather than itemizing future events, John’s first concern is “to influence the way his readers live in the present.” In this regard, “The key verse is 18:4: ‘Come out of her, my people, so that you do not take part in her sins, and so that you do not share in her plagues.’” Thus the vision aims to alter the lifestyles of those who read it. Revelation proclaims that “the End of all things is God and the Lamb” and when it succeeds in bringing “people to faith in God and the Lamb, it brings them to the End for which the book was written.” 

The Lamb Christology of the Apocalypse of John, by Loren Johns (Eugene, OR: Wipf & Stock), 2015 (previously published by Mohr Siebeck, 2003), 221 pp., ISBN 978-1-62564-697-2

Writing from the peace-church tradition of Mennonite, Quaker, and Church of the Brethren, Johns contends that Revelation’s image of Jesus as Lamb is the key to interpreting the entire book. He corrects those who dismiss such literature as “only symbolic” by noting that use of symbolism “has motivated people more powerfully than any other mode of discourse.” Though there’s a sense in which Revelation presents the Lamb’s death as sacrificial (1:5; 5:9), its primary emphasis on the Lamb is as an example of “believers’ consistent nonviolent resistance” against this-worldly idolatry, domination, and violence. Because this resistance involves unmasking the present order, conflict occurs⸺which is portrayed by images and terms of battle. But this battle is “waged through the prophetic power of the word, not through the traditional tactics of violence or power politics.”

In addition, Revelation uses “lamb” only in nonsacrificial contexts where it indicates some sort of vulnerability. John believed Rome’s social religion was influenced by Satan and would encounter judgment. But Revelation’s churches weren’t off the hook because of their tendency to be seduced by society. This spiritual crisis would lead to social crisis as believers resisted and thus encountered the consequences of their loyalty to Jesus. The resistance John called for was not primarily defensive but an offensive maneuver designed to unmask the spiritual powers at work in society. Its goal was victory (overcoming) and its method was that of the Lamb. John was convinced that this resistance would mean they, like he, “would begin to experience the increasing wrath of the beast” and would, like the Lamb, begin to lose their lives.

Unlike the Old Testament tradition of the vulnerable lamb, Revelation’s Lamb is no helpless victim but a conquering, victorious lamb. “Thus, if vulnerability is in view, it can only be a gutsy, costly, and effective kind of vulnerability.” John’s vision of a slaughtered lamb that still stands “is specifically designed to communicate the shock, irony, and ethical import of his message that the Conquering One conquers by being a slain lamb, not a devouring lion.” Revelation’s scroll is best understood not as a map of world history but as “the revelation of how God works in history”, showing the Lamb as “the key to the working out of God’s plan and that God’s will for humanity . . . depends upon the victorious success of the Lamb.” John’s switch from lion to lamb in chapter 5 “suggests that the crucial role of the messiah in history⸺whether speaking of his first or second coming⸺looks less like that of a lion and more like that of a lamb.”

Rather than asking his readers to adopt one set of values over another, John calls them to see the world differently, to recognize the beastly character of society, to say no to seductive compromises offered even within the churches, and to lay “one’s life on the line in doing so.” In Revelation, being a witness is no mere resignation to suffering but the same “nonviolent resistance to evil in which both Jesus and John engaged”, pointing the nations to the way of truth. Those who conquer will do so by doing as Jesus did until the end. We reign over the nations not by defeating them but by serving them with the gospel. “The high point in the struggle between good and evil will not be reached in [some end-time messianic battle]; it has already been reached in the death and resurrection of Christ.” Therefore “an ethic of consistent, nonviolent resistance, born of a commitment to God, is the means to victory over evil.” Revelation challenges us “to critique civil religion, to resist its blasphemous idolatry, and to maintain a faithful witness nonviolently, even to the point of death.” This is best done not by complaining within our sanctuaries or haranguing in our living rooms but by wrestling in the midst of this watching world.  

The Theology of the Book of Revelation, by Richard Bauckham (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press), 1993, 164 pp., ISBN 978-0-521-35691-6

Bauckham says Revelation does not leave behind the here-and-now by escaping into heaven or to the end of time. Rather, the day-to-day world of John’s readers is opened to the heavenly and end-time perspective so that it looks quite different. John’s message “is of immediate relevance”, offering far more than encouragement for the persecuted but also warnings to believers who were tempted to or already were worshipping the beast.

Revelation exemplifies how believers must train themselves to view the underside of history and its institutions rather than allowing their vision to be clouded by power, prosperity, security, and false values. It calls them to view things as God does, whose judgments “correspond to the moral truth of things.” These judgments have been revealed throughout history but they alone “do not lead to repentance and faith”, for they “do not convey God’s gracious willingness to forgive those who repent.” John’s prophecy in 11:1-13 demonstrates to the churches “the role they are to play as prophetic witnesses to the nations” until God’s kingdom is fully revealed. This will come about as the sacrificial witness of those who acknowledge God’s reign brings people from among the nations also to acknowledge his rule. John’s reworking of the original song of Moses in 15:3-4 transforms salvation from an event “by which God delivers his people by judging their enemies to an event which brings the nations to acknowledge the true God.”

The biblical hope for the end is not just the resurrection of persons but also for the renewal of God’s entire creation. While it presently groans for liberation from its bondage to decay (Rom. 8:19-22), the creation “requires a fresh creative act of God to give it . . . a quite new form of existence, taken beyond all threat of evil and destruction, indwelt by his own glory, participating in his own eternity.”

Revelation’s call to conquer “demands the readers’ active participation in the divine war against evil.” They do so not by overthrowing the empire but by dissociating themselves from its evil. “The church’s witness will be of value only if it knows truth worth dying for.” Her witness to the truth of the gospel is effective because people’s “faith in Christ’s victory over death was so convincingly evident in the way they faced death and died.” This “is not a literal prediction that every faithful Christian will in fact be put to death. But it does require that every faithful Christian must be prepared to die.” [reviewer’s note: The question then becomes, in what way does my self-sacrificial ministry of the gospel demonstrate this fact?] “It is in the public, [societal] world that Christians are to witness for the sake of God’s kingdom.” The two-pronged nature of our witness to the truth means that some will be delivered from deception and falsehood but also that those who cling to these things will ultimately succumb to them forever.

“[M]ost of John’s readers were used to belonging to a city. . . . If they were to dissociate themselves from Babylon . . . . they needed somewhere to go, another city to belong to.” Revelation presents the New Jerusalem as “a place in which people live in the immediate presence of God.” “Now that the covenant people have fulfilled their role of being a light to the nations, all nations [though not all individuals] will share in the privileges and the promises of the covenant people.” 

The Nonviolent God, by J. Denny Weaver (Grand Rapids: Eerdmans), 2013, 285 pp., ISBN 978-0-8028-6923-4

One question Weaver asks is, What is the character of the God revealed in Jesus? He argues that Jesus’ rejection of violence demonstrates that God should not be understood as One “who sanctions and employs violence.” To make this statement he responds to the challenge that scripture, particularly Revelation, uses seemingly violent imagery and “pictures both Jesus and [the Father] exercising great violence in final judgment.”

Not uncommon among theologians is the assertion that God alone has the moral right to use violence against sin and sinners should He choose. While it’s not inappropriate for God to be angry when people suffer injustice or rebel against his reign, Weaver questions how he expresses it. Since God’s most complete self-revelation is in Jesus, whose actions were assertive and confrontational but nonviolent, he sees that God acts not to destroy but to restore life. Jesus’ crucifixion was not the Father lashing out against sin. On the contrary, killing was the tool used by His enemies. God used resurrection to show that death is not final and life is available to all who identify with the living Christ.

Weaver joins those who contend that notions of divine wrath and punishment indicate that sinners are delivered to the inexorable “consequences of their own sin and violence.” Words of “divine wrath and judgment . . . forewarn those who practice violence and oppression and injustice that their evil will eventually consume them. Unless they change their ways, they condemn themselves.” [reviewer’s note, see “This is the verdict: Light has come into the world, but people loved darkness instead of light because their deeds were evil” – Jesus, John 3:19.]

Jesus’ incarnation demonstrates that God wants only the best for his creation and does not desire that people suffer. The existence of “evil and destruction and killing . . . [is] the responsibility of sinful human beings rather than of God.” God’s respect for human freedom “calls for the concept of judgment. . . [which] is a recognition that human beings can in fact choose against God. . . . So judgment is an expression of God’s love as a respect for that human choice. What is being challenged . . . is the traditional understanding of last judgment as the time when God finally employs overwhelming violence to vanquish evil.” Weaver contends that traditional theology in some ways encourages violence by presenting “a consistent and comprehensive image of a God who uses and sanctions violence. Salvation . . . comes through violence, the innocent death of Jesus that was needed to satisfy offended divine honor and restore order in the cosmos. Divine punishment is administered by . . . marauding armies. . . . Other times, natural disasters are invoked as divine judgment. . . . This biblical usage and these theological statements all place a divine seal of approval on violence at all levels from personal salvation to cosmic justice.” His concern is to demonstrate that scripture provides a different understanding.

Weaver sees the 1,000-year period in Rev.20 not as a future historic era but an affirmation that in spite of evil’s apparent power, “those who live in the resurrection of Jesus know that evil has been ultimately overcome and that its power is already limited.”  

The Wrath of a Loving God, by Brother John of Taize (Eugene: Cascade Books), 2019, 119 pp., ISBN 978-1-5326-7072-5

Brother John of Taizé (an ecumenical monastic fraternity in France) wrestles with the issue that led Marcion to propose the existence of two gods. An apparent dichotomy between the loving grace seen in Jesus and images of violent vengeance associated with God’s judgment has troubled many. Emphasizing the need for a narrative and global reading of Scripture⸺within its entire context and its history of interpretation⸺The Wrath of a Loving God undertakes a careful and painstaking examination of biblical statements surrounding this issue.

Jesus reinterpreted Scripture as pointing to him. His followers began to understand Scripture in new ways. As she confronted new challenges in light of Jesus’ ministry and under the Spirit’s direction, the church developed its thinking. The Wrath of a Loving God demonstrates how scriptural portrayals of divine anger varied and developed with time and circumstances.

Brother John’s conviction that God’s love is non-negotiable leads him to ask how it might be revealed by wrath. What causes God to be angry, and how does he use it constructively? Anger is God’s NO when that which is destructive seeks to be allowed in His presence. While unreasonable patience is a vice, anger at the self-destructive behavior of others is an indication of love. Biblical anger springs not from a bad temper or hatred but is “the other side of a spurned love.” It seeks not the destruction of another but the restoration of a beautiful relationship. “To those who reject it, love takes the form of a destructive energy, a consuming fire.”

People are tempted to see this as punishment, but Scripture speaks instead of visiting upon people the evil they have committed. Its concern is to show that God remains faithful, for anger is the opposite of indifference. When prophets expressed anger at a wayward people, this signaled the faithfulness of a God who refused to abandon them ultimately. Any condemnation that must be pronounced does not leave God untouched but brings suffering. We dare not place God’s love and anger on the same level, for this is what his description as “slow to anger” attempts to avoid.

God is not possessed by a split personality, divided between mercy and condemnation. Rather than being of two minds, God has only one intention and desires nothing but to love his creation. The separation which occurs is somewhat automatic: “Whoever believes in him is not judged; whoever does not believe has already been judged, for that person is not a believer in the name of God’s only Son” (John 3:18). In other words, those who perceive God as saying NO to them are seeing the mirror image of their NO to him. Rather than being cast into outer darkness, they enter freely. For those who don’t yet know Jesus or don’t wish to receive him, wrath is part of their world. They encounter the consequences of their attempted autonomy and likely perceive these as God’s antipathy toward them, so that his love is experienced as a threat.

In Jesus’ crucifixion, there was no divine anger coming upon him from the outside. Rather, he absorbed wrath into himself so that love may flow. He and the Father express the same NO to all that destroys life, even as Jesus, in solidarity with humanity, “suffers with them and for them the consequences of their waywardness.” Brother John relates the day of wrath to Good Friday, where “the human NO to God’s NO is fully assumed from within, clothed in mercy and transformed into redemptive suffering. This, and this alone, is in the final analysis the wrath of a loving God.”

This careful and sensitive work deserves to be considered among the other similar efforts to address the relationship between divine wrath and divine love.

Triumph of the Lamb, by Dennis Johnson (Phillipsburg, NJ: Presbyterian & Reformed Publishing), 2001, 363 pp., ISBN 978-0-87552-200-5

A sensible and highly readable commentary on Revelation which is not too lengthy. At several points Johnson briefly and fairly summarizes various schools of thought as he carefully and perceptively lays out his understanding. Perhaps the greatest strength of this work is its joint concern for how Revelation spoke to its original audience as well as to contemporary readers.

To demonstrate the author’s pastoral heart and deep concern for his readers’ well-being, I quote a particularly moving paragraph: “Please do not be content to come away from studying the Book of Revelation merely with solutions to some of the puzzles that always troubled you in John’s visions. Please, please, do not leave the Book of Revelation until it has etched more deeply into your heart its vivid portraits of your Savior and Lord and until you have grasped more deeply the difference that each portrait makes to your relationship with Jesus and your response to every trial that he leads you through⸺walks with you through⸺on your pilgrimage.”

Of particular value is a chapter which is too-often missing from studies of Revelation: “What Should This Book Do to Us?” The author wisely and powerfully urges readers to see their situation in its true perspective, to see their enemies in their true colors, to see their champion in his true glory, and to see themselves in their true beauty. To see things in this way empowers us to endure in spite of pain, to remain pure in the face of compromise, and to bear witness as long as our earthly mission lasts.

I heartily recommend this excellent work which places Revelation’s emphasis where it belongs. It has earned its place among my favorite commentaries on Scripture’s final book.  

Unholy Allegiances: Heeding Revelation’s Warning, by David deSilva (Peabody, MA: Hendrickson Publishers), 2013, 125 pp., ISBN 978-1-61970-141-0

Beautifully illustrated with photographs (many by the author), this brief work helps to clarify certain misleading ideas about Revelation. deSilva then describes the means by which Rome propagated and supported its public image, as well as the perspective which contrasts it and enables John to critique it. He contends that all of Revelation, and not just the seven letters, is a message to the churches of the first century. While “John watched and critiqued Roman imperialism globally and in its local manifestations in Asia Minor, . . . he also kept open a critical ear and eye within the Christian communities.”

Therefore deSilva sees the approaching visitation by God and His Messiah as “The critical challenge that must be given attention before all else.” For the One who brought the world into existence and entrusted humanity with the choices we have so mishandled “is on the way to encounter his creation and intervene once more in human affairs.” In light of this, both those who claim to be following Him and those who have rejected Him must evaluate their readiness to be confronted by Him.

Five points of self-examination call us to prepare for that encounter. Is our perception of Jesus leading us to be fully invested in His mission in the midst of our circumstances? Are we bearing effective witness to the gospel so as to receive His praise? Is there anything we may be doing or not doing which stifles, mutes, or betrays that gospel? Is there any way we are giving less than whole-hearted and fervent loyalty to Jesus? Which of God’s promises would incite us to improve our behavior and incur the pleasure of our Lord?

This helpful volume enables us to understand Revelation in a way that causes us to take it seriously.