Gonzalo Rojas-Flores, «The Book of Revelation and the First Years of Nero’s Reign», Vol. 85 (2004) 375-392
In this article I try to demonstrate that the Book of
Revelation was written in the first years of Nero’s reign, because (a) there
is an important patristic tradition in favor of Nero and (b) the internal
evidence shows that the text was redacted after Nero’s ascension to the throne
in 54 and before the earthquake of Laodicea in 60.
380 Gonzalo Rojas-Flores
stays still intact (11,2), including its square (11,8). Therefore, it has not
been damaged by the fire and destruction which demolished it almost
completely in the year 70. Moreover, John explains that this is the
Great City where Jesus was crucified (11,8). Besides, he prophesies
that a tenth part of Jerusalem will be torn down by an earthquake
(11,13) as punishment for their sins (11,8). It is obvious John did not
know what the Roman army did with the city after they conquered it.
Therefore, the Sanctuary mentioned in 11,1 is not the Community of
Saints after the year 70, but the historic Temple of Jerusalem before
the beginning of the rebellion. Inside that Temple the believers will
have shelter and will be preserved from the profanation of the Holy
City (11,2) and from its partial destruction (11,13).
Others argue that the Sanctuary would be rather a celestial
Temple (20). But the Sanctuary of Rev 11,1-2 is not in heaven (as in
11,19; 15,5), but in the historic Jerusalem, a holy and sinful city at the
same time (11,2.8). The Sanctuary shelters neither the throne of God
(as in 7,15;8,3), nor the Ark of its Covenant (as in 11,19).
Although John writes before the destruction of the Temple, he
affirms that at the end of time, in the new Jerusalem, there will not be
a Sanctuary, because God and the Lamb will be its Sanctuary. The city
will be enlightened by the glory of God with the Lamb as its lamp
(Rev 21,22-23). This description has been used as an argument in
favor of a late dating of Revelation: John affirms that in the new
Jerusalem, there will not be a Sanctuary because it was destroyed
already. But there is another explanation. In rabbinic literature a
symbolic relation between the lamp of the Temple and the lamp of the
King Messiah was established (21). It is stated, moreover, that the light
of the Temple will be necessary only in this world, because in the
coming world the Messiah will be like a lamp (22). The logical
corollary of this rabbinic argument is that during the Messianic era,
(20) C.H. GIBLIN, The Book of Revelation. The Open Book of Prophecy
(Collegeville, MN 1991); M. BACHMANN, “Himmlisch: Der ‘Tempel Gottes’ von
Apk 11:1â€, NTS 40 (1994) 474-480.
(21) According to the Scriptures, God will be the eternal light that will enlight
Jerusalem (Isa 60,1-3.19-20). His promise of giving David and his lineage a lamp
(1 Kgs 11,36; 15,4; 2 Kgs 8,19; 2 Chr 21,7) was transformed into a messianic
prophecy: “There I will cause a horn to sprout up for David; I have prepared a
lamp for my anointed one†(Ps 132,17). God himself declared that His Chosen
one would be “light†to the nations (Isa 42,6; 49,6).
(22) D. FLUSSER, Judaism and the Origins of Christianity (Jerusalem 1988)
457-459.