Repetitions, abrupt transitions
and paradoxes in Revelation (blood of the Lamb)

The most abrupt transition in the text is at 11:19/12:1.[1]  Instead of the trumpets heralding the Parousia (Christ’s appearance), there is a different story-line which culminates in the second reference to the Cross (12:9-12, so Smalley, 2005: 379).  John sees signs in heaven’s environs (or the sky) in which a magnificent celestial pregnant woman is threatened by a dragon (12:4; satan, 12:9, 20:2).  In the presence of the dragon, the woman gives birth to her son who is ‘snatched away’ to God and his throne and she flees to the wilderness on earth (12:5-6).  The identity of the mother is debated (usually Mary, Israel or the Church).[2]  The new born child is almost certainly the Messiah, but he could be the Messiah of the Hebrew Bible, Jesus at Bethlehem or representative of the messianic community.  After the birth, the celestial mother finds safety in the wilderness (12:6) and then danger (12:13-16) in events which recall the Garden of Eden (Gen. 3:1-24), the psalmists’ yearning for the wilderness as a place of safety (12:14; for example Ps. 55), a flood and other brief allusions to Israel’s history (so Kiddle, 1940: 236-238, Beale, 2015: 248-249); but not (this study suggests) allusions to Jesus’ birth and ascension (contra Mounce, 1997: 233-234, Osborne, 2002: 462, Beale, 2015: 247-248). 

The identity of the mother is debated and this study proposes that she may be the archetypal Israel in heaven’s environs, and perhaps Eve (and thus the mother of all humanity) and Israel on earth (see Framework 1B.c).  The new born child is almost certainly the Messiah, but he could be the Messiah of the Hebrew Bible, Jesus at Bethlehem or representative of the messianic community.  This study considers the child to be the Messiah of the Hebrew Bible (who is also Jesus Christ) because the new-born child is taken to the throne before his mother flees to the wilderness and before satan is thrown out of heaven to earth.  These events suggest 12:5 refers to the Messiah’s birth in the heavenly realms, not to Jesus’ incarnation.  This is supported by the allusions which better match Israel’s history, rather than Jesus’ physical birth or the history of the Church.  3:14 (and Jn. 1:1-5) state that the birth of the Messiah is the origin of Creation (so Kiddle, 1940: 222) and he has held the book-of-life since creation (13:8, 17:8).  This indicates that the story in Revelation may include Creation from two perspectives: celebration in the throne-room (4:11) and the Messiah’s birth (12:5).    At the precise moment (‘strictly present time’, Abbott-Smith, 1991: 61) the Messiah assumes his authority (the second reference to the Cross, 12:9-12), the dragon is defeated by the blood of the Lamb and expelled to earth; this immediately results in the efficacy of the testimony of the faithful, heaven’s rejoicing and woe on earth (12:7-12). 

The celestial mother and child may have material presences as Israel and Jesus Christ, but in 12:1-18 they are described in a more allegorical way than events described in 6:2-11:19.  Tracing the characters through the cosmic spaces from 12:1 suggests the images are allegories for more immaterial concepts (Israel, Eve; Messiah; satan) within a biblical version of earth’s history and stories of satan ‘behind’ or influencing earthly activities and wars, especially after his beasts appear (13:1-18).  Richard Bauckham describes chapters 12-14 as the ‘messianic war’ from the Incarnation (12:5) and beasts’ warfare, to the Parousia and Lamb’s triumph (14:14-20, Bauckham, 1993a: 94).  This study proposes that 12:5 refers to the Messiah’s birth in the heavenly realms, not to the Incarnation, but the principle is the same despite our different interpretations of 12:5-6.  History moves on, and at 12:17 satan goes off to make war against followers of Jesus, as well as the faithful.  12:17 cannot be before the time of the Cross, so this is the third reference to the immediate impact of the Cross. 

Chapters 4-6 and 12 cover the same series of events: introductions to the major participants (4:2-3, 12:1-4);[3] Creation (4:11, 12:5); the immediate impact of the Cross (5:5-7, 12:9-12) and its direct consequences, which are the triumph of the saints (5:8-10, 12:11), celebration in heaven (5:11-14, 12:12a) and warnings of war on earth (6:2-8, 12:12b, 12:17).  The shedding of the blood of the Lamb is a unique event which anchors these events to a precise time in earth’s history and these verses parallel each other, despite their different settings.  John’s journey through these chapters is considered from a spatio-temporal perspective in Section 5 and illustrated in the proposed macrostructure.  The different perspectives are illustrated in the macrostructure as separate time-lines in separate dimensions.  John’s journey in these verses moves from heaven’s throne-room to earth (physical-spiritual) and from 12:1 he sees events in heaven’s environs, which move onto earth (biblical).  The impact of Creation and the Cross are key-stone of Revelation because they are the focus of the first events within each dimension, so how a macrostructure reconciles the structural relationships between 5:5-7 and 12:9-12 and 12:17 is important. 

There was only one crucifixion, so the three references to it and its immediate impact refer to a single event at a precise time in earth’s history.  The contexts indicate the references are contemporaneous and in this spatio-temporal study the shedding of the blood of the Lamb is an example of a time-parallel, which is like a text parallel but with a chronological component; it is the controlling event in the story in Revelation (see Macrostructure Model, Figure 1).