Revelations - God's judgment on Israel

I am very much influenced by the idea that Revelations is simply a prediction of the destruction of the temple in 70 AD. That means that Revelation was written earlier than most think, perhaps even before the gospel of John.

Internal evidence for this can be found early in the book. First in 2:9 the Jewish synagogue in Smyrna is called the Satan's synagogue. The temple to the emperor in Pergamum is called Satan's throne in 2:13.

Later in this book Jesus is talking about the Great Satan doing things on a cosmic scale. Perhaps he is referring to the Jewish nation that as a whole has rejected him as Messiah. Jesus said several times in different ways, "If you do not know me then you do not know my Father." In rejecting Jesus they rejected God. This is serious. By allowing the temple to be destroyed God showed that he had rejected them.

Calling the temple at Pergamum Satan's temple does not easily fit into this theory. But if you look at O.T. prophesies, the nation used to punish Israel for their sins was also later punished. So Rome, who will be the destroyer, also is evil. Their motivation for punishing Israel was revenge. That is never a good motivation. Their actions showed a cold hearted maliciousness. They went too far.

This view of Revelation underscores the seriousness of the Jews' rejection of Jesus as savior and as their messiah. Whether they liked it or not he was the chosen one of God. Even after they killed him they had plenty of time to repent and believe because of the miraculous resurrection. Peter's sermon at Pentecost showed that God still kept open a pathway to repentance and salvation.

Many people believed after Pentecost and the miraculous speaking in tongues. My guess is that quite a few of those who initially accepted the good news with joy were persecuted back into Judaism by the religious leaders who would stop at nothing to quash this new sect.

God wanted them to know, approximately 40 years later, that what they did was serious. They rejected their God and in turn God rejected them.

Yet some individuals did accept Jesus and they were in turn accepted by God as Sons of God, part of the new Israel.