Though scholars debate the degree to which Revelation may have been influenced by noncanonical writings, there is little question that the Apocalypse contains recycled materials previously employed in other canonical books. The symbols of the Book of Revelation are not generally novel or new, most of them having previously been introduced in other portions of Scripture. The book has been called “a rebirth of images,” since it takes imagery familiar from hundreds of Old Testament passages and reworks them into new applications. For example, the symbol of “the two olive trees” as a designation for the two witnesses in chapter 11 is an echo of Zechariah 4:3,11-14, where the two olive trees are evidently Zerubbabel and Joshua, the high priest. Yet Revelation, while taking the identical phrase, gives it a different application.
Unlike most other books of the New Testament, Revelation does not contain even one direct quotation from the Old Testament. However, there are hundreds of allusions to familiar images and phrases from the Old Testament, and from the New Testament as well (especially the other writings of John). It has been calculated that concepts and imagery are drawn from Isaiah (79 times), Daniel (53 times), Ezekiel (48 times), Psalms (43 times), Exodus (27 times), Jeremiah (22 times), Zechariah (15 times), Amos (9 times), and Joel (8 times).
The principal historical matrices from which the images frequently are taken are: a) the Exodus, b) the Babylonian exile, and c) the life of Jesus.
Images Drawn From The Exodus
The Book of Revelation is replete with echoes of the Jewish Exodus from Egypt:
· The evil power that persecutes God’s people is spiritually called Egypt (11:8);
· The plagues of darkness, hail, locusts, boils, frogs, water turning to blood, etc., all recall similar calamities that befell Egypt prior to the Exodus;
· Christians are said to be “freed by the blood” of Christ (1:5), as the Jews experienced freedom from Egypt only after shedding the blood of the Passover lamb;
· The dragon that persecutes the woman (12:3ff) recalls Egypt, which is called a dragon in Ezekiel 29:3 and Psalm 74:13;
· Like Israel of old, the woman, having escaped the dragon, is nourished in the wilderness (12:6, 14);
· And as Israel, having safely crossed the sea, sang the “song of Moses,” so also the redeemed sing “the song of Moses and the Lamb” (15:3).
A further connecting link between the thought of Exodus and that of Revelation is the reference in the latter to the tabernacle and its furnishings. Moses was told to build the tabernacle after a pattern revealed to him on Mount Sinai. The Book of Hebrews tells us that this earthly tabernacle was a model of a heavenly counterpart. John apparently saw that heavenly tabernacle, for he describes golden lampstands (1:12), hidden manna, associated with the ark of the covenant (2:17), the altar of incense (8:3-5), the holy of holies (11:1; 15:8), and the ark of the covenant (11:19). There are other possible references to the tabernacle, as, for instance, the marked likeness of the New Jerusalem to the holy of holies (see comments on ch. 21).
Images Drawn From The Captivity And Exile In Babylon
The siege of the beloved city (20:9) and the declarations of the fall of Babylon call to mind the historical period of the Jews’ captivity in Babylon. The fall of Babylon is effected, in part, by the drying up of the river Euphrates (16:12), as was the case when ancient Babylon fell to the Medes and the Persians in 539 B.C.
Images Drawn From The Life Of Christ
The historical life of Jesus provides imagery for other concepts in Revelation. Christ’s death, resurrection, and victory over Satan are matters of frequent reference (e.g., 1:18; 2:8; 5:6, 9; 12:10, etc.). His birth and ascension are probably depicted in Revelation 12:5.
The ministry of “two witnesses,” in chapter 11, mirrors the earthly career of Christ. Their ministry is described as lasting three and a half years (v. 3), as did His. They are slain in the city “where our Lord was crucified” (v. 8). After three days, they rise from the dead and ascend into heaven (w.l 1-12), and the persecuting city is consequently smitten (v. 13), as Jerusalem was in a.d. 70.
Obviously, the Book of Revelation is not predicting the historical Exodus, Babylonian exile, or the ministry of Jesus, since those things occurred prior to its writing. Nor are we to anticipate a literal replay of these unique historical occurrences. Christ is, however, presenting his message in language reminiscent of these events, no doubt in order to highlight the similarity in principle of the events he is predicting to those of the past.