The Apocalypse - A Background Study

[Resource Manager]

THE APOCALYPSE

A BACKGROUND STUDY

 

 

COVER

 

Greek Text of Apocalypse 14:7-15:2, Plate LXIV (Sinai 267),

from the Greek Manuscripts of the New Testament at Mount Sinai,

Facsimiles and Descriptions by William Henry Paine Hatch, 1932.

 

Originally Published by:

 

Photocomposed and Printed by

PAK Printers, Inc

5220 Oakman Blvd.

Dearborn, Michigan, 48126 U.S.A.

 

INTERNET EDITION ‏2002

 

by courtesy of Joseph Banta

 

ON-LINE ENQUIRIES TO: jbanta austin.rr.com

[Resource Manager]

THE APOCALYPSE

A BACKGROUND STUDY

 

DATING THE REVELATION

 

THE IDENTITY OF BABYLON

 

“Who shall not fear thee, O Lord, and glorify thy name? For thou art holy: for all nations shall come and worship before thee; for thy judgments are made manifest.” Rev. 15:4

 

JOSEPH BANTA

 

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

 

We wish to express our appreciation for significant assist­ance received in the production of this study. Bro. Don Styles has served as editor and publisher, and without his support this booklet would not have appeared in its present form. Sis. Ellen Styles has offered helpful suggestions which have enhanced the work. Sis. Marie Banta has assisted with the research, a labor that has required many hours.

 

FOREWORD

 

One look at the Bibliography of this booklet reveals a work that is different from most of those which have been produced in our community. Bro. and Sis. Banta have done copious research in the writings of the first through third centuries A.D. in order to examine the primary source material for the issues they consider.

 

They were not satisfied with quotes from 19th century authors though this would have been a much easier course to follow. In matters of historical research, the primary mate­rial is often more ambiguous than the stated conclusions set forth by later commentators such as Elliott or Westcott and Hort. For that reason, the reader of this treatise may feel uncomfortable at times as he is exposed to the raw material which later historians used as the basis of their conclusions.

 

Things are not quite as tidy as we may wish. However, it is felt the importance of a right view of the Revelation fully justifies the research involved.

 

The believer in the Bible finds himself at odds with the established church. There is no doubt of the great doctrinal errors of orthodox Christendom. But the believer needs to know how God views the false church and its offspring. Does He abhor their doctrines as paganism in a different guise or does He reckon their wrong ideas as mistakes of scholarship akin to errors of conduct?

 

A view that the Apocalypse was written before A.D. 70 against errant Judaism virtually nullifies its impact on this issue. The primary purpose of this booklet is to show that an early date and Jewish application is wholly against the facts.

 

Hopefully such a demonstration will render the continuous historical approach all the more acceptable. It is that approach which permits the believer to rightly divide the Word and follow the application of the symbols of Revelation first to paganism and then to the apostate Christian system that has existed over the centuries to the present. Both are seen as the great enemy of God and His people.

 

It is upon such an understanding that the believer of today realizes he can have no part in a system which is anti-Christ, a system which has waged war over the centuries with the Lamb and will do so when Christ appears to triumphantly overthrow those who defame his name and kill his servants.

 

As members of a community called to be holy unto God, as living elements of the body of Christ, we can be, we must be, a people who remain separate showing forth the praises of our Lord and the word he has sanctified.

 

Don Styles, June, 1985

[Resource Manager]

THE APOCALYPSE

A BACKGROUND STUDY

 

PART I

DATING THE REVELATION

 

INTRODUCTION

IRENAEUS

WHO WAS “THE TYRANT?”

OTHER WITNESSES

ASIA MINOR A.D. 81-96

ANALYSIS OF THE EARLY DATE

REVELATION AND THE EPISTLES

CONCLUSION

 

PART II

THE IDENTITY OF BABYLON

 

BABYLON IN THE APOCALYPSE

HARLOT CITIES

THE OLD TESTAMENT SOURCE

THE GREAT ENEMY OF THE TRUTH

THE WRATH OF GOD

A “JEWISH BABYLON”?

THE SEPTIMONTIUM

JERUSALEM A.D. 66-70

AN IMPORTANT AND DIFFICULT PROBLEM

A FINAL WORD

 

APPENDIX

 

JESUS CHRIST VS. THE MAN OF SIN

 

BIBLIOGRAPHY

 

BIBLIOGRAPHY

 

MAPS

 

GENERAL MAP OF ASIA MINOR

THE ROMAN EMPIRE: 44 B.C. to 234 A.D.

THE SEVEN ECCLESIAS OF ASIA

TOPOGRAPHY OF ROME AND JERUSALEM

[Resource Manager]

 

GENERAL MAP OF ASIA MINOR

 

The Wycliffe Historical Geography of Bible Lands

[Resource Manager]

PART I

 

DATING THE REVELATION

 

INTRODUCTION

 

“If I will that he tarry till I come...” Jesus had made a statement about his beloved disciple which led others to be­lieve that the apostle John would survive until the Master’s return from heaven. The apostle did live a long time, lon­ger apparently than any of the other close disciples of Christ. He lived to receive late in life the wondrous visions from the Lord Jesus Christ himself which are recorded in the Apocalypse.

 

John had left his home in Jerusalem some years before and had settled at Ephesus, a city of Lydia on the west coast of Asia Minor.¹ Here in the Lycus valley there were a number of ecclesias, those to whom letters are addressed in the first chapters of the Revelation as well as several others. The great apostle must have ministered to the brethren and sisters of these ecclesias diligently for many years. He must also have become well known in the area as a preacher of the gospel, for he came to the attention of the authorities. His persecution at the hand of Caesar be­came legend, and he was ultimately banished for a time to Patmos, a rocky, barren island off the coast of Asia Minor.² There he received the remarkable visions described in the Revelation.³ It was to be the last message of the Deity to His people — a final word of prophecy and instruction as the age of the apostles came to a close. The aged apostle lived to return to Ephesus where he is said to have re­mained for a few years more.⁴ When he fell asleep, the last witness of the Lord’s apostles was silenced and the first century came to a close. The witness remains, by God’s grace, in the written word.

 

There has been a persistent tradition since very early times that the banishment of the apostle John to Patmos occurred during the reign of the emperor Domitian in ab­out A.D. 95.⁵ The date is not important in itself: Dr. John Thomas in EUREKA gives evidence for both an early date (A.D. 66) and this later date of writing. He accepts the later date while making the point that his interpretation is not affected either way. The subject only becomes essential if a particular exposition requires one date or the other.

 

-------

¹ This is assumed from the apostle’s evident familiarity with the Asian ecclesias in his seven letters to them (Rev. 1-3) and from statements of early writers to the effect that John returned to Ephesus after his exile (Eusebius, Ecclesiastical History, Book III, ch. 20).

 

² The International Standard Bible Encyclopaedia, “Patmos”, Vol.4, p. 2263.

 

³ Revelation 1:9.

 

⁴ Irenaeus, Against Heresies, II, 22.5 and III, 3.4.

 

⁵ Encyclopaedia Britannica, “Revelation”, Vol. 19, p. 246 (1971 edition).

[Resource Manager]

It is generally agreed by all parties that the Apocalypse could only have been written during the reign of either Nero or Domitian (ca. A.D. 95). References in the book clearly require a time of persecution, and only under those two Caesars was there any significant harassment of the followers of Christ in the first century. Nero is perhaps the better known persecutor, but this is because popular his­tory is more concerned with what was going on in the city of Rome itself. In viewing the history of any period it is necessary to look carefully at the whole picture. Nero’s persecution flared up as a result of his own caprice and affected Christians primarily in the city of Rome and its environs, without being severely felt in the Asian pro­vinces. The later persecution under Domitian, on the other hand, directly and oppressively affected the Brethren in Asia Minor; in fact, his persecution affected the very eccle­sias to whom the Apocalypse was addressed. The Asiarchs (local rulers in Asia Minor) under Domitian enforced Caesar worship and carried out the imperial edict against Christians of this area with some zeal.¹

 

All references to the dating of the Revelation from the first three centuries support the Domitian period. The first mention of the Nero dating appears to be in the sixth cen­tury and is found in some later writings. “It has no founda­tion in the evidence of Christian antiquity and originated in a desire to interpret part of the prophecy (as referring to) the reign and fate of the Emperor Nero.”²

 

The Apocalypse itself supports the later date. It de­scribes an advanced state of ecclesial deterioration: the deeds of the Nicolaitans, “which I hate”, the doctrine of Balaam, and the immoral teachings of that woman Jezebel.

 

Compare:

 

Revelation 2:4 (John’s Letter to Ephesus)

“THOU HAST LEFT THY FIRST LOVE.”

 

with

 

8]Ephesians 1:15 (Paul’s Letter to Ephesus)

8]

“I HEARD OF YOUR FAITH ... AND LOVE.”

 

Paul’s Epistle to the Ephesians was written from Rome during his first imprisonment in A.D. 61-62. The passing of some years would have been required to explain the great decline which had taken place in the Ephesian ecclesia — and all the ecclesias in Asia Minor.

 

The best evidence available confirms the usually accepted date (A.D. 95) for the Revelation. Some of that evidence is included in this study. We have carefully considered the opposite view, as put forward by Bro. H. A. Whittaker in his book, Revelation, a Biblical Approach, and we include responses to some of his comments on the sub­ject.

 

It is our hope and prayer that our effort will lead others to return to the Apocalypse as a rewarding study and source of help for these last days. It has always had a prominent place in our community, and as the final utter­ance of the Spirit Word it should continue to hold the posi­tion it deserves.

 

“Blessed is he that readeth, and they that hear the words of this prophecy, and keep those things which are written therein: for the time is at hand” (Rev. 1:3).

 

-------

¹ Chadwick, The Early Church, pp. 26-27:

 

“The Neronion persecution was confined to Rome and was not due to any sense of deep ideological conflict be­tween Church and State; it was simply that the emperor had to blame somebody for the fire. Nevertheless, it was a precedent that magistrates had condemned Christians to death because they were Christians and on no other charge.

 

“Under Domitian (A.D. 81-96) the situation seems again to have become grave ... Domitian styling himself ‘Master and God’, was inclined to suspect of treachery those who looked askance at his cult. The customary oath ‘by the genius of the emperor’ became officially obligatory.”

 

² Alford, How to Study the New Testament, p. 285.

[Resource Manager]

IRENAEUS

 

The earliest known witness for the date of the Apocalypse is Irenaeus, who wrote about A.D. 170. He was born and educated in Asia Minor where he was acquainted with those who had been contemporary with the apostle John. Irenaeus went in later years as a missionary to Gaul where he became bishop of Lyon and where he was eventually martyred. He was adamant in upholding the apostolic teachings insofar as he understood them. He insisted upon retaining the millennial teaching of the Revelation, while others were apparently wavering in their acceptance of this truth.

 

Two major works by Irenaeus survive: Against Heresies (five books written to counteract the Gnostic ideas of his day) and Proof of the Apostolic Preaching, an effort to re­late Christian teaching with the Old Testament.¹

 

“Irenaeus was himself a native of Asia Minor; he was a hearer of Polycarp of Smyr­na, who was a personal disciple of John; and he used the treatise of Papias of Hierapolis, another personal disciple of John.

Thus he had a peculiarly good means of knowing the truth.”

²

 

The books of Irenaeus entitled Against Heresies include several references to John and the Apocalypse, one of which places the apocalyptic visions on Patmos toward the end of the reign of Domitian (A.D. 81-96). Taken in its con­text, the statement of Irenaeus appears in a discussion re­garding the identity of the Antichrist. He writes:

 

“We, you see, do not venture anything as concerning the name of the Antichrist, in the way of positive affirmation. For if it were meet that at this time his name should be ex­pressly proclaimed, it would have been spoken by him who saw the Apocalypse.

For at no long time ago was it seen, but almost in our own generation, at the end of Domi­tian’s reign.”

³

 

Thus Irenaeus states the early tradition that the Apocaly­pse itself was seen by the apostle on Patmos during the last years of the reign of Domitian, thereby dating it to approx­imately A.D. 95.

 

It was suggested by a nineteenth century theologian that Irenaeus meant that John himself, rather than the Apocaly­pse, was seen during the reign of Domitian⁴. Henry Alford, commenting on the expression, which he quotes in the Greek, confirms that the Apocalypse is the subject of was seen. “For such is the only legitimate understanding of the construction.”⁵

-------

¹ Eerdman’s Handbook to the History of Christianity, “Irenaeus”, p. 76.

 

² Hort, The Apocalypse of St. John, Intro. pp. xiv-xv.

 

³ Irenaeus, Against Heresies, Book V, Ch. 30.3.

 

⁴ The suggestion was quoted by the Bishop of Ely in the Journal of Theolo­gical Studies for April 1907. It originated with a French theologian, M. J. Bevan, Lausanne, 1887. (Swete, Apocalypse of St. John, p. cvi).

 

⁵ Alford, The Greek Testament, “Revelation, Place and Time of Writing”, p. 230.

[Resource Manager]

WHO WAS “THE TYRANT?”

 

Another early witness for the dating of the Revelation is Clement of Alexandria, who flourished about A.D. 192-220. He related a story which he had received respecting the apostle John. “For after the tyrant was dead, coming from the isle of Patmos to Ephesus, he (John) went to the re­gions of the Gentiles.”¹

 

To establish when John left the isle of Patmos it is im­portant to identify the tyrant. He was either Nero or he was Domitian. Clement’s reference to Caesar as the tyrant in­dicates that one of the emperors was particularly known by this appellation. In reviewing the literature of that day, it is significant to note that Domitian is commonly referred to as the tyrant. The following account from the first century describes the reputation this cruel Caesar had earned for himself.

 

Apollonius of Tyana lived during the reign of Domitian and suffered persecution under that emperor. He was born at the beginning of the Christian era and died during the reign of Nerva (A.D. 96-98). Although not a follower of Christ (he was a neo-Pythagorean philosopher), he went about speaking against the excesses of the pagan system. He was arrested by Domitian but was later acquitted. In The Life of Apollonius of Tyana, by Philostratus (written in the second century), we read, “Domitian had already writ­ten to the governor of Asia directing the man of Tyana (Apollonius) to be arrested and brought to Rome ... Apollo­nius set sail for Achaea and having landed in Corinth ... met Demetrius ... the boldest of the philosophers, knowing that he had moved from Rome to get out of the way of the tyrant ...”.²

 

Then Demetrius speaks: “Domitian intends to implicate you (Apollonius) in the charges for which Nerva and his associates were banished.”³ Apollonius ponders his situa­tion: “It behooves a philosopher to die in the attempt to protect his parents and children ... and friends ... but to be put to death, not for true reasons ... and to furnish the tyrant with a pretext for being wise is much worse and more grievous than to be bowed and bent high in the sky on a wheel as they say Ixion was”.⁴ Further on we find that “there came to Rome from Arcadia a youth remarkable for his beauty and found there many admirers, and above all Domitian”. The young man spurned the advances of Domitian, and was thrown into prison and there had a con­versation with Apollonius. “Moreover Apollonius mentions this youth in one of his letters ... and adds that he was not put to death by the tyrant.” ⁵

 

Pliny the Younger was contemporary with Domitian as a young lawyer in Rome. He later wrote that several of his friends were executed by that Caesar and that he himself had feared at times for his life. Recalling one of the emper­or’s inhumane deeds, he writes of Domitian as assuming “the character of high-priest, or rather indeed of a cruel tyrant.” ⁶

 

Another writer who titles Domitian “the tyrant” is Lactantius, a Christian apologist of the third century known for a major work entitled The Christian Institutions. In his treatise, De mortibus persecutorum (Of the Death of the Persecutors), he writes of Domitian, “who, although his government was exceedingly odious, for a very long time oppressed his subjects, and reigned in security, until at length he stretched forth his impious hands against the Lord. Having been instigated by evil demons to persecute the righteous people, he was then delivered into the power of his enemies, and suffered due punishment. To be mur­dered in his own palace was not vengeance ample enough: the very memory of his name was erased. For although he had erected many admirable edifices, and rebuilt the Capi­tol, and left other distinguished marks of his magnificence, yet the senate did so persecute his name, as to leave no remains of his statues, or traces of the inscriptions put up in honour of him; and by most solemn and severe decrees it branded him, even after death, with perpetual infamy. Thus, the commands of the tyrant having been rescinded, the Church was not only restored to her former state, but she shone forth with additional splendour, and became more and more flourishing.”⁷

 

John was exiled to Patmos and it is to be noted that Domitian had a penchant for exiling his antagonists. A case in point: the emperor’s niece Domatilla and her husband Flavius Clemens had been given honors by Domitian, but they converted either to Judaism or Christianity. This was considered by the emperor as “atheism” (i.e. not acknow­ledging the divinity of the emperor or of the Roman deities). Caesar then banished his niece and executed her husband.⁸

 

It is evident from the testimony of these witnesses that Domitian was known to those who opposed his will as the tyrant, that the emperor’s persecution extended particular­ly to Asia, and that banishment was a form of persecution associated with his name. The liberation at Domitian’s death of those he exiled is substantiated by Dio Cassius,⁹ the Roman historian.

 

-------

¹ Clement of Alexandria (Translation by G. W. Butterworth), p. 357.

 

² Philostratus, The Life of Apollonius of Tyana, Vol. I, Book VII, Ch. 10.

 

³ Ibid.. Ch. 11.

 

⁴ Ibid.. Ch. 12.

 

⁵ Ibid.. Ch. 42.

 

⁶ Pliny, Letters. Book IV.xi.

 

⁷ Lactantius, De mortibus persecutorum, ch. III (pp. 166-167).

 

⁸ Domatilla and Clemens were charged with Jewish manners and sac­rilege. These were expressions which were used of both converts to Juda­ism and Christianity.

 

Latourette, A History of the Expansion of Christianity. Vol. I, “The First Five Centuries”, p. 140 (Dio Cassius, Domitian, xiv). Suetonius, xvii.1 (pp. 371-2).

 

⁹ Dio Cassius, Book Ixviii.1.

[Resource Manager]

OTHER WITNESSES

 

The earliest Latin commentator on the Apocalypse, Victorinus of Pettan (A.D. 305) states that John was exiled by Domitian to Patmos. In his commentary, On the Apocaly­pse of John, Victorinus writes as a comment on Rev. 10:11, “When John said these things he was in the island of Pat­mos, condemned to the labour of the mines by Caesar Domitian. There, therefore he saw the Apocalypse ... and John being dismissed from the mines, thus subsequently delivered the same Apocalypse which he had received from God.”¹

 

Eusebius, bishop of Caesarea in Palestine (born A.D. 262) in his Ecclesiastical History affirms that the Revela­tion was written during Domitian’s reign. “In this persecu­tion, it was handed down by tradition, that the apostle and evangelist John, who was yet living, in consequence of his testimony to the divine word, was condemned to dwell on the island of Patmos ... Even historians that are very far from befriending our religion, have not hesitated to record this persecution (i.e. Domitian’s) and its martyrdoms in their histories. These have accurately noted the time, for it happened, according to them, in the fifteenth year of Domitian.”²

 

The statement of Eusebius is unequivocal, and he had sources other than Irenaeus. Eusebius “not only discovered annotated history but also preserved for posterity great masses of prime sources.”³ Neither Eusebius nor Irenaeus give any indication that the tradition, dating the Revelation to A.D. 95, was disputed. And no evidence of an alternative dating has come to us from that period. From the informa­tion available to him, therefore, Eusebius relates the his­torical background of the Apocalypse.

 

“... But after Domitian had reigned fifteen years, and Nerva succeeded to the govern­ment, the Roman Senate decreed, that the honours of Domitian should be revoked, and that those who had been unjustly expelled, should return to their homes, and have their goods restored. This is the statement of the historians of the day.

It was then also, that the apostle John returned from the banishment in Patmos,

and took up his abode at Ephesus, according to an ancient tradition.”

⁴

 

The historian Mosheim (1694-1755) sums up the impact of the emperor Domitian upon the early church. “In the year 93 or 94 a new assault was made upon the Christians by Domitian, an emperor little inferior to Nero in baseness of character and conduct ... The persecution was undoubtedly severe: but it was of short continuance, as the emperor was soon after murdered. In the midst of this persecution, John the apostle was banished to the isle of Patmos.”⁵ It was there that John received the Revelation (Rev. 1:9).

 

-------

¹ Victorinus of Petau (Pettan), On the Apocalypse of John, Ante-Nicene Christian Library, Vol. XVIII, p. 416.

 

² Eusebius, Ecclesiastical History, Book III, ch. xviii.

 

³ Great Events from History (Ancient and Medieval Series), ed. F. N. Magill, Vol. II (A.D. 1-950), p. 841.

 

⁴ Eusebius, Ecclesiastical History, Book III, ch. xx.

 

⁵ Eusebius, Ecclesiastical History, Book III, ch. xx.

[Resource Manager]

ASIA MINOR A.D. 81-96

 

Excavations at the site of the first century Ephesus have revealed much about the city and the province of Asia Minor. These discoveries, substantiated by first century writers (Dio Cassius, Pliny, Tacitus and others) provide a considerable body of information about conditions in that part of the world during the reign of Domitian. A German historian, Ethelbert Stauffer, has effectively brought together these findings in a background study of the period. The book is entitled Christ and the Caesars. We have drawn from this source in forming our picture of life in Asia Minor during these last years of the apostolic age. We have also consulted Roman Rule in Asia Minor by David Magie, professor of Classical Antiquity, Princeton.

 

“The rule of Domitian”, Prof. Magie writes, “marked a great advance in the process of centralization, bringing with it a despotism greater than that exercised by any of the Emperor’s predecessors.”¹ Though he was a “merci­less tyrant” to those who opposed him, Domitian was able to make himself popular with the masses. Except for the Jews and the followers of Christ, most of the people in Asia Minor approved of this Caesar and his rule.

 

A great statue of the emperor Domitian has been unco­vered by archaeologists. It stood during the supremacy of that Caesar in the sports stadium of Ephesus. Along with that statue there were discovered images of the imperial priests bearing likenesses of their god-emperor Domitian. Ephesus had become the center of the cult of Caesar worship in Asia, and the rites of this imperial religion were associated with festivals, sporting events and government functions. Ephesus, famous for its temple of the goddess Diana, was called on inscriptions “the city loyal to the emperor”. Records from Domitian’s time speak of impe­rial letters of grace, imperial mysteries and sacrificial fes­tivals. Domitian thus imposed upon these provincial people not only the rule of Rome but a system of worship pro­claiming himself an incarnate Deity. The high priest of this cult was the religious head of all the priests in Asia Minor and also served in a political capacity. The new Temple of Domitian where the high priest officiated was also the seat of government.²

 

The rituals of emperor worship were impressive, and it seems that the populace was very much caught up in its pomp and ceremony. The people of Asia Minor enjoyed being a part of the great Roman Empire, and they embraced the worship of Caesar with some enthusiasm, at least for a time.

 

“After the sacrifice to the emperor there followed a grand procession through the de­corated and crowded streets to the place where the festival games were held. Now the ritual became a truly public affair. For those who joined in it had streamed together not only from the city, but from all Asia and the whole world. As the waves thunder on the shore, writes an author of that time, so do the assembled masses thunder and toss ex­pectantly in the sports ground.”

³

 

The Asiarchs (local priest-rulers of the Imperial cult) performed their functions well, and the cult of Caesar pros­pered in all the cities of Asia Minor. Evidences are to be found everywhere. In Pergamos, Smyrna, Thyatira, Sardis and Philadelphia coins have been found depicting Domitian as a god. An inscription from Laodicea glorifies Domitian as the incarnation of the Roman god Jupiter.⁴

 

-------

¹ Magie, Roman Rule in Asia Minor, pp. 576-577.

 

² Stauffer, Christ and the Caesars, pp. 150-191.

 

³ Ibid., p. 170.

 

⁴ Ibid., p. 173.

[Resource Manager]

Roman authority and the worship of Caesar were very much a part of life in Asia Minor, and those who refused to participate in the popular religious exercises often found themselves a persecuted minority. This would have been all the more true of those who actively witnessed against these practices. The enthusiasm of the provincial people, writes Stauffer, became at times a raging fury against the followers of Christ. This was particularly true in A.D. 95, a year in which several dissidents who refused to worship the emperor or his image were executed for treason. “In Eph­esus, Smyrna, Pergamos and elsewhere there were severe anti-Christian riots and executions.”⁵

 

Against this tide of paganism the ecclesias in Asia had to maintain their particular way of life. The popularity of Caesar worship, associated as it was with sports and enter­tainment, was most inviting probably to the young, and the brethren must have witnessed vigorously against it. In Ephesus the apostle John would have been the chief elder and spokesman for the ecclesia. As the cult of Domitian was introduced and gained prominence, the son of thunder must have opposed it as he had formerly resisted the errors of the Judaizers and was now opposing the teachings of the Gnostics. Credibility is thus given to those ancient traditions which tell us that the venerable apostle was arrested for his witness, taken to Rome to appear before Caesar, and then sent back, not to Ephesus, but to exile on Patmos. The witness refused to keep silence however, nor would the Spirit allow him to do so. His letters to seven ecclesias in Asia Minor and a powerful, if mysterious Apo­calypse became the fruit of his isolation. That Domitian was fearful of men like John is verified by his interview with the grandsons of Jude, the brother of Christ.

 

The story of Jude’s grandsons is recounted by Hegesippus, a Jewish convert to Christianity, who wrote in Pales­tine about A.D. 150. In his history of the apostolic Ecclesia he discussed the impact of Christianity upon the emperor Domitian. He writes: “At that time there was yet remain­ing of the kindred of Christ the grandsons of Jude, who was called his brother according to the flesh. These some ac­cused as being of the race of David, and Evocatus brought them before Domitian Caesar. For he too was afraid of the coming of Christ, as well as Herod.” These grandsons of Jude were interrogated by the emperor Domitian, and they assured him that they were poor laboring men. Hegesippus continues: “Being asked of Christ and his kingdom, of what kind it was and when it should appear, they answered that it was not worldly and would be in the end of the world; when he coming in glory should judge the quick and the dead, and render to every man according to his works.”⁶ Domitian was concerned about any rumor of a threat to his position from any section of his empire.

 

Domitian’s persecution of those who opposed his cult con­tinued until his death in A.D. 96. Apollonius of Tyana, with whom we have made an earlier acquaintance, turns up in Ephesus at the end of the period. He was delivering a lec­ture there when he learned of the emperor’s assassination. “Take heart, gentlemen,” he announced to those assem­bled, “for the tyrant has been slain this day”.⁷

 

The apostle John was released from his Patmos exile and allowed to return to Ephesus, and for a few years the eccle­sias enjoyed a period of relative peace. Nerva, who suc­ceeded Domitian, released many prisoners and exiles and followed a course of restraint.⁸ Dio Cassius wrote that this emperor “forbade the making of gold or silver statues in his honour”, that he restored the property of those who had been unjustly deprived by Domitian and abolished many of the sacrifices and spectacles.⁹ The first century Roman historian, Tacitus, wrote that Nerva reversed the tyrannical policies of Domitian and “restored liberty” to the empire.¹⁰ Unfortunately, Nerva’s reign lasted just two years.

 

Caesar worship continued under Trajan and succeeding emperors, but it was not enforced with quite the same zeal as it had been under Domitian, nor was the Asian populace so caught up in it. Pliny, the military governor of Asia Minor under Trajan (98-117 A.D.) describes conditions of his day as compared with the earlier excesses. To him Domitian had been a cruel tyrant, whereas Trajan was an enlightened despot who sought to “reclaim” his subjects as loyal adherents of Roman paganism.¹¹ It was still “illegal” to follow Christ, however, and persecutions were resumed. The way of the Truth was never an easy path in the days of the Caesars.

 

-------

⁵ Ibid., p. 173.

 

⁶ Eusebius, Ecclesiastical History, Book III, ch. 20.

 

⁷ Philostratus, The Life of Apollonius of Tyana, Book III, ch. 20.

 

⁸ Dio Cassius, Roman History, Book lxviii.2.

 

⁹ Ibid.

 

¹⁰ Tacitus, Agricola, 3.

 

¹¹ Pliny, Letters, Book X.xcvi.