Towards
a new spatio-temporal
macrostructure for Revelation - continued
5) The proposed spatio-temporal macrostructure
The proposed macrostructure is a unity-structure type of macrostructure for Revelation (Osborne, 2002: 27-31; see Towards … 3c). This study is not an ideological study, it is a spatio-temporal, literary-historical, exegetical analysis of the text and its aim is to provide and interpret a reproducible model for Revelation’s structure. It is hoped others will use the model for their own interpretations. This study is concerned with the relationships between the passages based upon their subject matter and not on what Revelation’s characters or events may represent – although there are some thoughts on this in Framework 4.
This study proposes that the setting of the vision (the cosmos) within the book of Revelation controls the structure of the text, and the setting can be translated into a modern spatio-temporal metaphor or mental image: the spacetime (or space-time) continuum. This interpretation is like following an ‘hermeneutic of spacetime’ which follows a ‘spacetime rule’ that time moves in one direction only (into the future) in the cosmos and verses cannot ‘jump over’ one another in a single space (they behave like beads on a piece of string within a space). For example, it would be a temporal violation for 6:2-11:19 to interrupt the progression from chapter 12 to 13 on the biblical earth (see Towards … 3b and Framework 1); the relationship between the cosmic spaces is illustrated in the Macrostructure Model chapter. It is suggested in this study that Revelation describes activity in heaven’s throne-room and its environs, and on two versions of earth (the physical-spiritual earth and an earth that tells the biblical story of the messianic war), and at the below-the-earth boundary.
There are four steps back in relative time in the story in Revelation (at 4:2, 12:1, 12:13 and 15:1) and these result in repetitions, abrupt transitions in space and/or time and paradoxes in the text, for example: the shedding of the blood of the Lamb (5:5-7, 12:9-12, 12:17) and the fall of Babylon (14:8, 16:17-21, 18:1-3, 19:1-4). Repetitions reflect single, unique events described from multiple perspectives, according to their cosmic location.
The steps back in relative time enable John to tell a single story containing two interlinked, chronologically linear dramas from 1:10 and 12:1, as presented in the biblical meta-narrative. The proposed macrostructure reconciles the two story-lines and eighteen time-parallels (which are like text-parallels but they have a chronological dimension) demonstrate that major events occur simultaneously throughout John’s cosmos. Superimposed upon the linear story-line is a text spiral (16:12-21:8) that describes events from just before the fall of Babylon to the descent of the New Jerusalem. In the Repetitions chapter 5C, it is suggested that John may have viewed these events as a waking vision and the spiral events from vantage points on the visionary physical-spiritual earth.
5a) An active chronology
An active chronology is the key to the proposed macrostructure because at any point in the story (i.e. at the same relative time) there will be consistency between the two narrative paths and correlations between them will be compatible or may be deduced. This is illustrated in the proposed macrostructure and the figures in this section refer to the Macrostructure Model, Figures 1-5. For example, the sixth time-parallel (Figure 3) is based upon Bauckham’s observed text parallel that it is ‘remarkable’ that the meaning of 11:11-13 (two witnesses resurrected, a tenth of the city collapses, 7000 people die, survivors praise God) ‘coincides exactly’ with that of 15:2-4 (the victorious martyrs rejoice), which confirms Bauckham’s interpretation of both passages, despite their different images (Bauckham, 1993a: 101). Similarly, the fifteenth time-parallel indicates the crushing of the grape harvest corresponds to the Great Battle (14:20/19:15-21; Figure 5; so Bauckham, 1993b: 47, 293; Osborne, 2002: 555-556; contra Jauhiainen, 2003a: 554, who suggests the bowls partially recapitulate the grape harvest).
There are occasions when time-parallels link consequences with their cause(s), for example when the abyss opens (9:2) this may enable the abyss beast rise to earth (13:1-10; so Collins, 1979: 72; Figure 3; second time-parallel) and when the four angels are released at the Euphrates (9:14-15), this may facilitate the rising of the earth beast through another earth/ below-the-earth portal (13:11; Figure 3; third time-parallel).
Macrostructure Model Figures 1-5 illustrate the macrostructure as a single cosmos-based story, from Creation to the New Order, focused on the Cross (Jesus’ death and resurrection) and the Parousia. The torments of the seals, trumpets and bowls represent the perennial scourges of humanity, but their structure in this spatio-temporal analysis is linear and not telescopic or recapitulation of a single series of events. The eighteenth time-parallel (Judgement/ Second Death) is the only one which includes a confirmatory statement (21:7-8) and it completes the biblical time-line (Figure 5). The linear plot progression (i.e. John’s visionary journey) describes the four temporal shifts at 4:2, 12:1, 12:13 and 15:1 in the story, and the shifts create the opportunity for John to see the same events again but from different perspectives. These relocations are a function of the subject matter of the text, and not the manner in which John describes the story. In other words, they are functions of the underlying macrostructure, rather than being surface, literary features.
This study is not a search for ideological, literary or linguistic patterns, it suggests that underlying all these patterns is the fundamental macrostructure, which traces the path of John’s visionary journey through the cosmos. Even the similarities between the seal, trumpet and bowl torments or relating to the descriptions of the three magnificent women (celestial mother, Babylon and the Bride) are superimposed upon this chronologically linear Creation to New Order story.
5b) Three choices
There is only one occasion in this spatio-temporal analysis when allocation of verses to a space is uncertain: the appearance of the Lamb on Mt Zion plus the harvests (14:1-20) can be either biblical allegories (Option 1) or physical-spiritual events (Option 2) or there is a spatial transition at 14:6 (biblical to physical-spiritual earth; Option 3).
In all options, a very short time may begin with Christ appearing on Mt Zion (14:1-5; perhaps during the time of the fifth bowl at 16:10-11) and the fall of Babylon (14:8; seventh bowl, 16:12-21; Figure 4). The fall of Babylon indicates that the appearances of the Lamb and the Rider are not contemporaneous in any option, and all the time-parallels are present in all three options. It is appropriate that this spatio-temporal analysis is open to interpretation at this point in the story because if there was a definitive answer to which image of the Parousia is ‘correct’, this would have been settled by earlier generations. The option chosen will have implications for how 14:1 onwards is interpreted and this is discussed in Framework 4A.d.
Page updated 12 August 2023