this ‘coming’ of God to bring his purposes for his creation to fulfilment is the coming of Christ.

John’s apocalypse, however, is exclusively concerned with eschatology: with eschatological judgment and salvation, and with the impact of these on the present situation in which he writes. The heavenly revelation he receives concerns God’s activity in history to achieve his eschatological purpose for the world.

John is concerned with the worldwide tyranny of Rome and, even more broadly, with the cosmic conflict of God and evil and the eschatological purpose of God for his whole creation.

Seven is the number of completeness.

shares God’s eternal livingness. Whereas

‘Let anyone who has an ear listen to what the Spirit is saying to the churches’

understanding of Jesus Christ’s work of establishing God’s kingdom on earth.

book, the call to ‘conquer’ which is addressed to all the churches in the seven messages, transcends both consolation and warning.

who is Lord over the world?