Signs of the Times: The Matrix of Meanings in Revelation 2-3 is an exegetical study of the local references in chapters two and three of the Book of Revelation. The book presents that the revelations and messages to the seven churches of Asia Minor by John are essentially contextual and specifically local; meaningful only for the Christians of the first-century A.D. located in these seven churches. Any future expectations in the Book of Revelation are imminently relevant for these seven churches as their prevailing historical conditions predispose. The underlying postulation is that, John, through a revelation of Jesus Christ, was exposing the signs of the times in these seven churches that were either plaguing or needing redressal of the situations they were in during the late first-century A.D. in Asia Minor.
James Kalong is Professor of New Testament Interpretation at Oriental Theological Seminary, Bade, Nagaland. His other books are Table Talks of Jesus: Didactics of Reversals in the Gospel of Luke and The Year of the Lord's Favor: Eclectic Musings and Essays on Contemporary, Biblical, and Theological Themes
A couple of years before the turn of the 21" century, speculations over what would transpire at the end of the Second Millennium when the clock ushers in the Third Millennium, captured the imagination of the global community. The unease was primarily over fears of what was known as the "Y2K bug" or the "Millennium bug." Y2K stands for "Year 2 Kilo" or "Year 2000." A glitch in computer programming that would involuntarily turn the year 1999 to 1900 instead of 2000 was a real scare because computers were tuned to change only the last two digits from 99 to 00. It became an exigent issue, and if not rectified, computer crashes around the world would create a domino effect leading to the collapse of many database infrastructure wreaking havoc throughout the world in banking services, power plants, airlines reservations, government systems and many other institutions. When the clock heralded the Third Millennium no malfunction actually happened because of the preemptive reprogramming that scientists, governments, and businesses around the world engineered by creating patches in computer systems to seamlessly switch the year from 1999 to 2000.
But it was not just the Y2K bug that caused apprehensions for some people around the world. Among many Christian circles, the turn of the new Millennium also brought about a lot of precariousness in relation to what is found in Revelation 20, which has references to "a thousand years." For many doomsday soothsayers, the end of the world was at hand! And so the debate over whether we are living in a premillennial age, a postmillennial time, or an amillennial era was fiercely contested. Several books came out during that time to give credence to one of the above. The Millennium Myth by N. T. Wright is one among such books. I happen to be present when Wright gave a talk during the launch of his book one evening in the Spring of 1999. The talk intrigued me so much so that it became the springboard for me to pursue a study on the Book of Revelation, and I eventually ended up writing a Master's thesis on a segment of the book. Gordon D. Fee, at that time a Professor of New Testament at Regent College, Vancouver, readily accepted to supervise my research. It was from him and in his class that I learned how to do exegesis. I remain truly grateful to Gordon for guiding me in understanding and enabling me to complete a thesis on the Book of Revelation.
That was more than 20 years ago! Of late, the Covid-19 pandemic has once again stirred up the Book of Revelation to prominence. A short piece that I wrote sometime last year against the misconceptions of the interface between the Book of Revelation and Covid-19 vaccine, while mostly positive, generated a few perturbing, feedbacks from certain quarters of the Christian community. I decided to revisit my thesis from two decades ago and got convinced that I need to reassert what I wrote at that time by converting it into a book form, because I believe that a proper and right perspective on the Book of Revelation will enable Christians not to flounder in understanding the matrix of meanings inherent in the book. And so to put it through for publication, I began reviewing my two decades old thesis by updating with new resources that have come about during the intervening years. I hope that this book will set the tone for further conversations on the creative work of an author from the first-century A.D.
I thank Azũng immensely for her understanding every time ! needed to get back to continue working on this book and for not being able to assist her on the chores at home. Without her support and prayers I could never have accomplished this project. Above all, I thank God for inspiring me to think through and enabling me to publish this book.
The Book of Revelation is the last and one of the least among the 66 books of the Bible that Christians are wont to reading. The most common refrain that people opine about this book is, "It is difficult to understand!"—a good pretext not to turn its leaves. It is difficult to understand no doubt, but many Christians also deliberately evade reading the Book of Revelation because it is assumed that the book is all about doomsday warnings of the end times and are therefore disinterested in a subject matter not pleasant to ruminate and contemplate about. To add to this quandary for Christians, it is a book from which we rarely hear sermons being preached from the pulpit. And if at all there is one, the sermon is often a flagrant misinterpretation that augments fear and judgment to an already. uneasy perception people have about the book. In recent times, the Book of Revelation has come to the forefront in Christian discourses with the Covid-19 pandemic all over the world. Some Christians tend to identify this pandemic as the plagues of Revelation 15, while others see 666 being manifested in the Covid-19 vaccine. It is therefore all the more imperative that such doubts, misconceptions, and misinterpretations of the book be corrected.
The Book of Revelation, also known as the "Apocalypse" of John, is certainly a difficult book to read if one is not aided with the right skills and tools in understanding the background of "apocalyptic literature" and the historical context in which it was written. Apocalyptic literature is a genre of writings that comprises visions and dreams, cryptic language, metaphors, symbolisms, numbers and figures as the style of writing and content. Admittedly, a specialized background study and interpretative skills become indispensable to comprehend the message and meaning of the book. The Book of Revelation is also a theologically profound and creative work of an author, who during the late first-century A.D. wrote to address the pressing difficult contextual situations of seven churches in Asia Minor. And so because of its difficult literary form and apocalyptic mold alongside a complex historical reality in which the book was set, this book has been subject to many kinds of interpretations as well as misinterpretations.
To illustrate the above point and clarify the misgivings about the Apocalypse, an overview of one of the most commonly misinterpreted text in the Book of Revelation is helpful. This particular text contains a phrase and a numerical figure which has often been the issue of contention and speculation for Christians and non-Christians alike through the centuries-"the number of the beast, which is also the number of a man" represented by the numerical value 666 in Rev 13:18. This phrase and number is probably the most discussed subject matter and one of the most debated issues in the book leading to many conjectures and interpretations, causing immense confusions and apprehensions. Understanding this phrase and figure can ease the many tensions and contentions in the popular imagination today.
**Contents and Sample Pages**
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