THE AUTHOR OF THE BOOK OF REVELATION

Hugo McCord

All tradition points to one author: John the son of Zebedee. The oldest certification outside the book itself goes back to Justin, a Christian philosopher, born about 103 A.D., and suffering martyrdom under emperor Marcus Aurelius about 165 A.D. Justin Martyr said the book of Revelation was penned by “John, one of the apostles of Christ” in “the revelation given to him” (DIALOGUE WITH TYPHO THE JEW, apud Barnes).

As to the time of the writing, the earliest tradition goes back to 96 A.D. Irenaeus in the 2nd century wrote that the vision “was seen no long time ago, but almost in our age, at the end of the reign of Domitian [81-96 A.D.]” (Barnes).

If you were looking for an author to write the last book of the Bible, indeed its climactic book, would you select an “unlearned and ignorant” (Acts 4:13, KJV, ASV) man? In marked contrast with the educated Paul (Acts 22:3), John the son of Zebedee and Salome (Matthew 27:56; Mark 1:19-20; 15:40) did not get to go to school, and was looked upon as “illiterate” (agrammatos, Acts 4:13).

The Lord’s selection of an uneducated Galilean fisherman (Mark 1:16-20) to be the human author of the last Spirit-inspired book illustrates again that God’s thinking differs from man’s thinking. Long ago the Lord had said, “For my thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways my ways” (Isaiah 55:8).

The simple title in the earliest known copy (Aleph, dating from the 4th century) of the Bible’s last book is THE REVELATION OF JOHN. But some people did not think that brief title was sufficient.

In the 8th century a copyist made the title THE REVELATION OF JOHN THE THEOLOGIAN. Such a description of the plain Galilean fisherman would have embarrassed him, for it would carry the implication that John wrote what he thought instead of what the Holy Spirit inspired.

In the 17th century the scholars of King James I changed the name to THE REVELATION OF ST. JOHN THE DIVINE. To call John “THE DIVINE,” a “man skilled in divinity” (Webster), was a repetition of the 8th century designation, “THE THEOLOGIAN,” and to call him “ST.”, an abbreviation for “SAINT,” implies that other Christians are not saints.

In the 19th century someone had printed the book of Revelation with quite an elaborate title:

THE REVELATION OF THE ALL-GLORIOUS EVANGELIST, BOSOM-FRIEND [OF JESUS], VIRGIN, BELOVED TO CHRIST, JOHN THE THEOLOGIAN, SON OF SALOME AND ZEBEDEE, BUT ADOPTED SON OF MARY THE MOTHER OF GOD, AND SON OF THUNDER (cited by Bruce M. Metzger, A TEXTUAL COMMENTARY ON THE GREEK NEW TESTAMENT, 2nd edition, p. 662).

Far from vain words, John simply wrote that he was a “servant” and a “brother” and a “companion” with all other Christians “in tribulation” in “the kingdom and patience of Jesus Christ” (Revelation 1:1, 9, KJV).

To what tribulation or suffering did he refer? In John’s day Christians were bitterly persecuted. The Roman government pronounced Christianity an illegal religion (religio illicita). The refusal of Christians to enter temples devoted to idols caused them to be called atheists, the enemies of all the gods.

Their night meetings stirred suspicion that Christians, obviously fond of each other, were engaged in promiscuous sexual orgies. Also they were accused of eating the bodies and drinking the blood of the babies born as a result of their sexual indulgences. In addition, their refusal to serve in the military brought on them additional hate and persecution.

The Roman government was determined to stamp out every vestige of Christianity. Emperor Domitian (81-96) “bathed the empire in the blood of Christians” (Newman). He was “autocratic, arrogant, suspicious, cruel, and ferocious.” His father, Vespasian, had refused to be worshiped, but Domitian demanded it, and assumed the titles of “God” and “Lord God” and “Jupiter.”

Once a year everyone in the empire was required to appear before Domitian’s magistrates and say KAISAR KURIOS, “Caesar is Lord,” and as a testimony of compliance, each one had to burn a pinch of incense to the godhead of Caesar. After the ceremony, a written certificate good for one year was issused (Barclay). But Christians said IESOUS CHRISTOS KURIOS, “Jesus Christ is Lord.” The result was that many Christians, “in consequence of testimony borne to Christ” (Eusebius apud Newman), were exiled to the island of Pontia.

John, believed to have been in his nineties, and serving as an elder of the congregation in Ephesus, was banished by Domitian in 93 A.D. to a small island called Patmos (some 7 miles by 3), 70 miles southwest of Ephesus. John wrote that he was on Patmos “on account of the word of God and the testimony of Jesus” (Revelation 1:9).

Unbelievably, exile was “preceded by scourging,” and followed by

fetters, scanty clothing, insufficient food, sleep on bare ground, a dark prison, work under the lash of the military overseer (Sir William Ramsey, apud Barclay).

How much of that kind of treatment John had to endure we do not know, for he simply wrote that he was “your brother and companion in the suffering” (Revelation 1:9). Victorinus in the 3rd century wrote that John was “condemned to the mines” (apud Barclay), which is unbelievable for a man in his nineties.

Today tourists are shown a cave (40 X 17 X 10 feet) in a cliff overlooking the sea, where John was forced to live. Apparently, while on Patmos, he wrote part of the book of Revelation (10:4).

This godly man missed getting to meet with fellow Christians at Ephesus on the first day of the week as they met to partake of the Lord’s Supper. However, he knew when Sunday came, and he wrote that “I was in the Spirit on the Lord’s Day” (Revelation 1:10).

Moreover, there is an indication that he tried to convert people on the island of Patmos, and baptized some. Today tourists are shown a place close to the wharf where are the stone remains of what could have been a baptistery, with a Greek inscription: leipsanon baptisterious euangelistou Ioannou, tou theologou. 96 UX. A translation is: “That which is left of the baptistery of the evangelist John, the theologian.”

About 170 A.D. Clement of Alexandria wrote that “after the death of the tyrant [Domitian],” the next emperor Nerva allowed John in 96 A.D. to return to Ephesus. There he finished writing the rest of the book of Revelation (1:9). There he still tried to preach, senile in his nineties. Was it during this period that John twice fell at the feet of an angel and worshiped the angel instead of God (Revelation 19:10; 22:8)?

Tradition has it that John, unable to stand, preached from a chair, repeating over and over, “Children, love one another.” It is no wonder that he alone among the apostles is called “the apostle of love.” The disciple for whom Jesus had two kinds of love (agape and philia, John 13:23; 19:26; 20:2; 21:7, 20) had now so matured in his spiritual growth that love filled his heart and was in his every utterance.

The last words that John heard Jesus speak to him from heaven were, “Indeed, I am coming soon,” to which John responded, “Amen! Come, Lord Jesus” (Revelation 22:20). That old body of his that had been beaten at Jerusalem (Acts 5:40) and exiled to Patmos finally was laid to rest in Ephesus. Bill Humble has visited Ephesus, and he writes:

A small church was built over his tomb in the second century. Theodosius built a larger church in the fourth century and it was followed by the Emperor Justinian’s great Basilica of St. John in the sixth century. Justinian’s church was among the largest and most magnificent anywhere in the Christian world. It was 394 feet long, 131 feet wide, had 11 domes and was built over John’s grave.