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In a
Nutshell The religion proclaimed in Paul's letter to the
Ephesians is the same as that which drives John's Gospel and Letters and the Apocalypse
of John. By taking this unity of belief seriously we can indeed begin to make
headway in our interpretation of the biblical witness to Jesus Christ. |
By now you are probably asking: this is all very well, but what has that got to do with dreams? This occurred at Ephesus; this was the place where God's Spirit joined together the disciples of Jesus with the believers who had been disciples of John the Baptist.
Mary, Jesus' mother, was a cousin of Elisabeth, John's mother. You will remember that from the cross Jesus had asked his cousin, another John, the brother of James, son of Zebedee who was married to Mary's sister, to look after His mother. That is what this John did. James was killed by Herod (Acts 12:2) and it is thus quite likely that John had to go into hiding. In time he got to Ephesus, at least that is what the early church's tradition tells us.
The is also some question as to whether this John is john the Elder of Ephesus. But it seems highly likely that Ephesus became a centre of Johanine Christianity. John also wrote a gospel and three letters. By the term 'Johanine' we mean the teaching of that disciple of Jesus - the disciple Jesus loved. He apparently had also been a devoted follower of John the Baptist before John had directed Him to follow Jesus instead (John 1:35-42).
All of this discussion is given to help you understand the place where the Apocalypse of john - the Book of Revelation - was written. It was written by a disciple of Jesus called John who was probably the specially loved disciple who had the task of looking after Jesus' mother. He knew that he could give hope to his readers by putting down his vision, the vision that was given to him one day when God's own angel visited him on the island of Patmos. Maybe he was a prisoner there or maybe he was on the island to visit someone who was a prisoner.
John knew that the hope of his apokalujis had first come into view in the teaching and prophecies of John the Baptist, the "voice crying in the wilderness." he knew that the hope of all peoples everywhere (Isaiah 42:4) lay in the Person who now sat at God's Right Hand who would guide all those who put their trust in Him through all the danger and perils that would beset them in the time that remained, the time of grace, in which God used His people to call all people to repentance and to receive mercy and grace. God's hand of judgment is still held back inviting all to come to Him and receive His love and His mercy, the reign of His everlasting kingdom.