John's Use of the Old Testament in Revelation

Trinity Journal, Spring 2000 by Juncker, Gunther H

In chap. 3, sec. D, Beale surveys the use of the word "mystery" (vua-rnpLov) in the NT against its OT-Jewish background to determine its use in Revelation. The primary background is not the mystery religions but the OT. The word "mystery" (te) occurs nine times in Daniel, a book of obvious importance for Revelation, where it refers to the hidden content and meaning of Nebuchadnezzar's dreams. At Qumran the word refers to OT prophecy that is being fulfilled, and Beale is inclined to gloss occurrences there as "prophecy" or "fulfilled prophecy." In the NT the word indicates not only that OT prophecy is being fulfilled but that it is being fulfilled in an unexpected manner. The key to detecting this particular use of the term is found in the OT references that typically occur in close connection with the word. For example, in Matt 13:10 Beale argues (following Ladd) that the mysteries of the kingdom refer to the unexpectedly hidden and gradual coming of the kingdom prophesied by Daniel. In Rom 11:25-26 he argues that the mystery involves an apparent reversal in the historical order of salvation that, contrary to expectation, comes to Gentiles first and then Jews. In two unexpected ways, however, the original order is still intact: (1) Christ himself is "the true Israel who first experienced God's eschatological deliverance through resurrection" and whose deliverance is followed by the deliverance of the Gentiles; and (2) Gentiles who are being saved are "true, spiritual Israel," but in the future Jews who have been "true spiritual Gentiles" will turn and be saved. In Eph 3:6 the mystery again involves Christ as "true Israel" and the fact that in him Gentiles are "true Israelites" without the need to adopt the outward identity markers of the Jews. In 2 Thess 2:7 the mystery involves the fact that while the prophesied man of lawlessness is not actually present (and so the end of the age has not finally come), yet he is invisibly present already in his emissaries the false teachers.

In Rev 1:19-20 the mystery does not merely refer to the identification of symbols. The lampstands, for example, as temple furniture refer by synecdoche to the temple which, in turn, represents faithful Israel. The church is thus "the beginning form of the end-time temple" predicted in Zechariah 4. This temple is present but not in its full glory. In Rev 10:7 the mystery involves not only the suffering of the saints predicted by Daniel but the radical "elongation of the interadvent period" in which they suffer. It also involves the fact that the saints conquer the evil kingdom ironically through their suffering. And in Rev 17:7 the mystery involves the unexpected way in which the kingdom of evil turns on itself and selfdestructs (17:16).

Beale's survey supplements, but by no means replaces, the definitive survey of Brown (1968) and the detailed analysis of Bockmuehl (1990). His central insight is essentially correct, yet the exegesis is occasionally forced in the direction of finding something unexpected in connection with a nearby OT reference. As a result, there is a flattening out of the meaning (use?) of the term and a failure to distinguish between singular and plural uses.