Sárospataki Füzetek 15. (2011)

2011 / 4. szám - TANULMÁNYOK

Paradise motifs in the Book of Revelation

as the new world order. Hence the addition ‘from God’ (éx xoö oúgavou means the same as án'o xoö 0so0). The new Jerusalem is not a remnant of the old order; nor is it a natural outcome of the new order. It is ‘from God’, truly the ‘city of God’.

Our survey of the structure of this passage shows that this is its core. The coming of the new Jerusalem ‘out of heaven, from God’ has as its aim that henceforth God will dwell with men. In Israel, there was already an awareness that God had pitched his tent among them, so as to dwell with men (Ps. 78:60). Truly, his dwelling is ‘with people’ (pexá xwv avOgdmwv). Not just with Israel, not even a restored or an expanded Israel. The dwelling of God is with all of mankind. All those (converted) living on earth become his people. His covenant will reach its full extent, so that the united nations will be included in it. The new Jerusalem becomes the capital of a new world in which, because of God’s permanent presence, righteousness dwells.15

In this new constellation of heaven and earth, there will be no more room for the sea (yj dócXocoooc ovx e'oxiv Ext). Here, the sea is apparendy viewed as something negative, something threatening. Indeed, in the chiastic structure of verses l-5a, the sea is located in parallel with those other things that will no longer be: death, mourning, crying or pain (verse 4 a-c). A sea of sorrow will be wiped away by God’s own hand.

In contrast to Genesis 1, where the sea is portrayed as an essential element of God’s creation (although great sea monsters are mentioned too: Gen. 1:21 [NRSV]), in Revelation the sea represents the forces of evil (such as ‘the beast from the sea’, 13:1) and of death (in 20:13 the sea is associated with ‘death and Hades’).16 When Babylon is destroyed, it is especially the prosperous seafarers who must stand helplessly by while the world economy, the stage of their venture capital, collapses (Rev. 18:17b-19). There will be a much calmer passage for the new Jerusalem, once there is no more sea.

In Genesis 1:2, the ancient ‘deep’ signifies a state in which life and habitation are impossible.17 The sea (LXX: ddcXocaaoc) in Genesis 1:9-10 is the water, which at God’s command, is gathered together. When that happens, dry land appears, and the created world becomes fit for life and habitation, so that mankind can find a safe abode. Since then, the powers of death have made the world an unsafe place, but once the sea is no more, this threat will be removed, once and for all.

Both the Old Testament and the ancient Jewish tradition portray God as being in constant confrontation with the sea. In her study, Kloos identifies a number of divine acts relating to this topic, the most notable of these being: God sets boundaries for the sea; he lifts up his voice against her; if need be he dries it up.18 Wherever YHWH appears, the turbulent sea must draw back. When God comes to dwell forever among men, he will provide a safe abode - one without a see view.

15 According to Rev. 21:16, the new Jerusalem is almost equal in size to the ancient Mediterranean world. Note that the measuring angel was using man’s measurement. See Dieter Georgi, “Die Visionen vom himmlischen Jerusalem in Apk 21 und 22.” In Kirche. Festschrift fúr Günther Bornkamm sjtm 75. Geburtstag, eds. Dieter Lülirmann und Georg Strecker (Tübingen: Morh, 1980), 351-372 [367].

16 See also Rev. 8:8; 12:12; 16:3. Jonathan Moo, “The Sea That is No More. Rev 21:1 and the Function of Sea Imagery in the Apocalypse of John,” Novum Testamentum 51/2 (2009): 148-167.

17 Gen. 1:1 taken as a heading that will be developed in the following verses, with the conclusion in 2:1.

18 Carola Kloos, Yhwh’s Combat with the Sea. A Canaanite Tradition in the Religion of Ancient Israel (Amsterdam: Van Oorschot/Leiden: Brill, 1986), 81-83.

2011/4 Sárospataki Füzetek 15