Revelation and
Human Reality
Session 53
A-level Amphitheater
LLUMC
Jan 29, 2011, 10:30-11:30 AM
Richard Bauckham
Lectures at LLU
 Tuesday, Feb 8, at noon
Revelation, Q & A
 Tuesday, Feb 8, at 5:30 PM
Individualism and Community in the
Gospel of John
 Wed, Feb 9, at 5:30 PM
The Bible and Ecology
Where: Alumni Hall Auditorium
Freedom and Power
Action at Last!
 Revelation 20:1-3a Then I saw an angel
coming down from heaven, holding in his
hand the key to the bottomless pit and a great
chain. He seized the dragon, that ancient
serpent, who is the Devil and Satan, and
bound him for a thousand years, and threw
him into the pit, and locked and sealed it over
him, so that he would deceive the nations no
more, until the thousand years were ended.
Any Questions?
 Such as this question:
If forceful action is taken
at last, why was it not
done earlier?
 Possible answer: It is
better late than never!
More Action
 Revelation 20:3b After that he must be
let out for a little while.
Any More Questions?
 Such as this question: Why will he be
released; indeed, why must he be
released?
 Probable answer: It does not make sense!
Let Us Consult the
Experts
 “But why is Satan merely bound and why is he
ever to be loosed again?”
Austin Farrer, Revelation, 202.
 “Why, once Satan had been securely sealed in
the abyss, must he be let loose to wreak further
havoc? And what claim does he have on God,
that God is bound to give the Devil his due?”
Caird, The Revelation of Saint John 249..
Consulting the Experts
– the Question
 “But why, theologically, must he be loosed to
deceive the nations? Why did he have to come
down to earth with great wrath? Why could he not
have been liquidated from the beginning?”
Sweet, Revelation, 290.
 “Why not simply destroy Satan at the beginning of
the thousand-year period? Why is it important
that Satan is not destroyed during the millennial
period?” Resseguie, Revelation Unsealed, 25.
Consulting the Experts
– the Question
 “The question occurs to every reader of
this text, ‘Once Satan is bound and the
earth enjoys a millennium of undemonized
celebration, why ‘must’ he be released
again?’”
Boring, Revelation , 208.
 “What is the point?”
Charles H. Talbert, The Apocalypse, 95.
Consulting the Experts
– the Answer
#1: Something is wrong with the text.
 John died “when he had completed i.-xx.3 of
his work, and that the materials for its
completion, which were for the most part
ready in a series of independent documents,
were put together by a faithful but unintelligent
disciple in the order which he thought right.”
Charles, Revelation II, 147.
Consulting the Experts
– the Answer
#2: Something is wrong with the author.
 “After the capture of ‘the beast’ the seer
has lost interest in the story.”
Lohmeyer, Offenbarung,, 116.
Consulting the Experts
– the Answer
#3: Something is wrong with the source.
 “Here is our key. The origin of this doctrine
is not specifically Christian but is to be
found in certain Jewish beliefs about the
Messianic age which were common in the
time after 100 B. C.”
Barclay, Revelation., 2:186-187.
Consulting the Experts
– the Answer
#4: Something is wrong with the script.
 John “found this event prophesied in
Ezekiel xxxviii-xxxix, and prophecies must
have their fulfilment.”
Caird, Revelation, 256.
Satan as Metaphor - 1
 Satan is not liquidated “because he
represents man’s free will, the capacity
God has given for sin, and the terrible
reality of the consequences. This heaven
and earth cannot exist without him.”
Sweet, Revelation, 290.
Satan as Metaphor - 2
 “Evil must be magnified to its fullest before
being destroyed forever. In order to
participate in this mythical scene, the devil
‘must’ be released to engage in his
characteristic activity of ‘deceiving the
nations.’”
Boring, Revelation, 209-10.
No One to Blame?
 God “binds the deceiver and sets up a
period of time in which His will is perfectly
clear and obvious to all. Nevertheless, it is
all to no avail. When the deceiver is set
free, he still proves…that humans cannot
blame their sinfulness on their environment
or circumstances.”
Talbert, Apocalypse, 95.
Sovereign Grace?
 “Just as he was allowed to enter Eden, so
in the restoration of paradise – the
millennial earth – he will be permitted to do
it again. This final chapter in the world’s
history will again demonstrate that people
perpetually embrace evil unless sustained
by sovereign grace.”
MacLeod, “The Fifth ‘Last Thing’: The Release of
Satan,” BSac157 (2000), 205.
Our Turn
1. The notion that there is something wrong
with the text, the author, the source, or the
script must be rejected.
2. The notion that Satan is a mere amplifying
feature for what is essentially a human
drama must also be rejected.
3. In a book billed as a revelation, the notion
that this turn of event is inscrutable is also
inadequate.
‘My’ Turn
1. The conspicuous binding, thousand-year
imprisonment and subsequent release of
Satan described toward the end of
Revelation (20:1-3; 7-10) establishes Satan
as an important character in the narrative
and allots to him a central role in the plot of
the story on literary and narratival terms
alone.
‘My’ Turn - 2
2. Satan is made to stand alone on stage at
the end of Revelation’s narrative in order to
place him in a separate category that is
distinct from the human drama.
‘My’ Turn - 3
3. The ending of Revelation is also the
ending of the Bible and the ‘climax of
prophecy.’ On this logic the ending of the
story is likely to be related in some
significant way to the beginning.
Next Session
 Next session: February 12.