Revelation: A Commentary by Brian K. Blount

Author:Brian K. Blount
Language: eng
Format: mobi
Published: 2009-02-25T14:30:59+00:00

The Almighty One is not bound by time but transcends it; this is highlighted through the designation "the one who is and who was" (here, "[you] who are and who were"). Heretofore, the title has always had a threefold formulation, "the one who is and who was and who is to come" (see the comments on 1:4, 8; 4:8). John even applies a similar formulation to the beast; it portrays the beast's pitiful, failing attempt to mimic God's transcendence of time (17:8). Though negative, even that threefold formulation has a concluding future premonition: "about to rise." John drops the future sensibility here and in subsequent citations that relate to God (16:5), however, because it is no longer applicable. According to the praise song of 11:15, the God who was (recognized as ruler of all) now is (recognized as Lord of all). The revelation has been realized. John, therefore, appropriately changes the titular designation. In place of the phrase "who is to come," he adds an entire clause, "because you have taken great power and begun to rule." In other hymns, too, John uses comparable clauses to explain why praise for God is appropriate (4:11; 5:9; 12:10). The perfect-tense verb formulation, "you have taken," signals both the accomplishment and the expected long-term endurance of the powerful reign God has accomplished. The aorist verb for rule operates with the controlling perfect "[you] have taken" in an ingressive grammatical sense ("[have] begun to reign") that agrees with the narrative assessment of v. 15: the rule is under way, but it is only just under way. It has just begun. In this sense, 11:17 has close affinity with 19:6. In that hymn, too, the worship song, employing a similar hoti (because) clause, declares that the Almighty has begun to rule and is therefore worthy of praise.

[18] The twenty-four elders are the only ones to respond positively to the news of God's inaugurated reign. The nations also respond, not with praise but with rage. The allusion to Ps 99:1 (98:1 Lxx) could hardly be clearer. In the psalm, using an aorist formulation of basiletto (to rule) similar to the one used in Rev 11:17, the writer declares that the people rage in retaliation. There is a similar pattern in Exod 15:14; although the verb "rule" is not used, the context indicates that God's rule, through the defeat of Pharaoh's army, elicits rage among the nations.

God's response to the nations' rage is divine wrath. Every time John uses the term "wrath" in his work, it harbors this thematic sense of judgment (6:16-17; 14:10; 16:19; 19:15). John sees it as an appropriate instance of lex talionis: the punishment fits the crime (Beale 615).

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