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Revelation of Jesus Christ: Which God Gave to Him to Show to His Servants What Must Soon Take Place
A new and transforming approach to the Book of Revelation. Margaret Barker bases her study on a fresh reading of the primary sources. As an Old Testament scholar, she can read Revelation as Hebrew prophecy - ancient temple oracles which inspired Jesus and his own prophecies, and influenced the whole Jerusalem Church. Jerusalem was waiting for their Great High Priest to return and complete the Atonement at the end of the Tenth Jubilee. This expectation fuelled the revolt against Rome. Josephus, who deserted to Rome, was the false prophet. John, who escaped to Patmos, compiled Revelation as a record of the first generation. In the future, he taught, the Lord would return to his people in the Eucharist.This work illuminates the formative years of Christianity, in the social, religious and political situation of mid-first-century Palestine, in a quite remarkable way. It will have profound implications for the understanding of Christian origins and the development of Christian liturgy.
464 pages, Paperback
First published January 1, 2000
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About the author
Margaret Barker
52 books69 followersThere is more than one author with this name
Margaret Barker is a British Methodist preacher and biblical scholar recognized for her pioneering contributions to the study of early Christianity. Educated in theology at the University of Cambridge, she devoted her career to exploring the roots of Christian thought through what she terms Temple Theology, an approach tracing many aspects of early Christian liturgy and doctrine back to the worship of Solomon’s Temple.
In 1998 she served as president of the Society for Old Testament Study, and in 2008 she was awarded the Lambeth Doctor of Divinity by the Archbishop of Canterbury in recognition of her scholarly achievements. Her influential works, including The Great High Priest (2003) and Temple Theology (2004), emphasize the enduring legacy of Temple worship, arguing that it shaped Christianity as deeply as Hellenistic and synagogue traditions.
Drawing on sources ranging from the Hebrew Bible and Septuagint to the Dead Sea Scrolls, Gnostic writings, and early Christian texts, Barker’s research highlights the mystical dimensions of ancient worship and their relevance for understanding early Christian belief. Her work has been both praised for originality and critiqued within mainstream scholarship, yet remains highly influential across diverse theological traditions.
Margaret Barker is a British Methodist preacher and biblical scholar recognized for her pioneering contributions to the study of early Christianity. Educated in theology at the University of Cambridge, she devoted her career to exploring the roots of Christian thought through what she terms Temple Theology, an approach tracing many aspects of early Christian liturgy and doctrine back to the worship of Solomon’s Temple.
In 1998 she served as president of the Society for Old Testament Study, and in 2008 she was awarded the Lambeth Doctor of Divinity by the Archbishop of Canterbury in recognition of her scholarly achievements. Her influential works, including The Great High Priest (2003) and Temple Theology (2004), emphasize the enduring legacy of Temple worship, arguing that it shaped Christianity as deeply as Hellenistic and synagogue traditions.
Drawing on sources ranging from the Hebrew Bible and Septuagint to the Dead Sea Scrolls, Gnostic writings, and early Christian texts, Barker’s research highlights the mystical dimensions of ancient worship and their relevance for understanding early Christian belief. Her work has been both praised for originality and critiqued within mainstream scholarship, yet remains highly influential across diverse theological traditions.
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Displaying 1 - 10 of 10 reviews
November 26, 2021
This is the most convincing interpretation and explanation of the Book of Revelation I have come across. So many of Barker’s interpretations were aha moments for me, such as the interpretation of the woman clothed with the sun and the harlot both as representing Jerusalem at different points in history and the connection made of the woman to the goddess, Wisdom, as part of what was driven out during the purging of the first temple by the Deuteronomists. The connections Barker makes with the temple, the creation, Eden and the New Jerusalem were all new to me and mind blowing, but make so much sense. Also, Barker often points out possible errors in translation and possible alternatives that make Revelation more consistent, such as the likely mistranslation of ‘afterwards’ to ‘another’, making it seem that there are many angels, while there is just the one ‘Mighty Angel’. Barker pulls together an impressive number of ancient sources and weaves together apocalyptic texts both biblical and extra biblical to put together the most likely interpretation intended by the seer of the Book of Revelation.
January 5, 2021
This covered how much of the book of Revelation covered events that were current and applicable to the writer of Revelation. Barker made the argument that much of the “prophecy” in the book had to do with the conflicts of 165 BCE-70 CE.
I appreciated how she tied much of the symbolism of the book to the First Israelite temple. I also appreciated how she tied the symbolism of the Eucharist to the First Temple. It took forever for me to read as I was always checking on her Greek and Hebrew, I really got into how she would give variant reading possibilities on certain words and for me that was a fun digression, though it really slowed down my reading of the book. Also, I often found myself spending so much time in the Hebrew Bible or New Testament, reading her references, making new connections, so this book was enlightening in that respect, making new connections with other texts.
I liked Mother of the Lord better than this book, but this was still a 4 star book. I really appreciate how she has read so much extra biblical literature and ties in so many of these references.
I appreciated how she tied much of the symbolism of the book to the First Israelite temple. I also appreciated how she tied the symbolism of the Eucharist to the First Temple. It took forever for me to read as I was always checking on her Greek and Hebrew, I really got into how she would give variant reading possibilities on certain words and for me that was a fun digression, though it really slowed down my reading of the book. Also, I often found myself spending so much time in the Hebrew Bible or New Testament, reading her references, making new connections, so this book was enlightening in that respect, making new connections with other texts.
I liked Mother of the Lord better than this book, but this was still a 4 star book. I really appreciate how she has read so much extra biblical literature and ties in so many of these references.
February 21, 2008
A very interesting reading of the book of revelation as part of a greater body of early Christian and Jewish works on temple theology and the high priesthood (if I'm remembering it correctly). Barker appeals to a large number of sources contemporary with the book of revelation and from before to explore the theological environment in which the book was written to arrive at conclusions unsullied by later orthodox interpretations held by creedal christianity. A bit dense, but still a good read if you skip around a bit to the more interesting chapters.
July 14, 2022
Wonderful commentary on the Book of Revelation.
Barker makes a very compelling case that, rather than being recorded late in the first century (usually dated to the time of the Roman Emperor Domitian, between 81 and 96 AD), the first version of the scripture was actually the earliest of the writings eventually compiled into the New Testament, was known to Jesus, and was in fact a vital part of His ministry, the foundation and basis for all his subsequent teaching.
As the first sentence of the book itself says, it is “the Revelation” that Jesus Christ had, “which God gave unto him, to shew unto his servants things which must shortly come to pass.”
In other words, it is, in part, a record of Jesus’s own visions, written in the strange-to-modern-readers symbolic idiom of the priestly Temple mystics (whom Jesus had had contact with ever since He was a precocious 12-year-old learning in the Temple about Light symbolism and the merkavah mysticism of God’s Chariot Throne).
Barker does an amazingly eye-opening extrapolation of what Jesus was likely to have known, and what scriptures He was likely to have read that formed His own self-conception as the Great High (Melchizedek) Priest, chosen to perform the great Day of Atonement ritual to renew the Covenant of Lovingkindness (hesed) at the end of the Tenth Jubilee.
Some of my favorite aspects of the book were these glimpses we see of Jesus as an actual person: reading the Book of Isaiah (itself clearly influenced, as Barker shows, by the Enoch mythology of the Fallen Angels, etc) from the time He was a child, struggling with His adult calling after His baptism and Initiation, His temptations, and finally His acceptance of His mission to restore and heal the bonds of creation by pouring out His life in self-sacrifice (not the grisly “penal substitution” theory of later scholars).
Barker also clarifies how, in the time between the death of Jesus and the fall of Jerusalem and the destruction of the Second Temple in 70 AD, John was given authority to reveal these Temple visions to the early Christians — which, indeed, was likely one of the causes of the war against the vicious Roman overlords.
Barker shows how Revelation was a compilation of the seven letters to Asia warning the churches about Paul, along with John’s collection of oracles, full of Types and Anti-Types:
Draught and famine were made even worse by the intolerable economic situation of massive wealth inequality in Jerusalem created by the corrupt Priests; the “harlot” was the corrupted city of Jerusalem herself; the First Beast was the Emperor Nero (proven by the “666” gematria); the Second Beast was Josephus the False Prophet; the “Mighty Angel” coming in the cloud from Heaven was Jesus Himself in a personal vision to John, etc.
The whole book is remarkable scholarship, drawn from a wide range of evidence progressing over many centuries (Barker’s forte), but I was especially impressed with how she combined information drawn from Josephus to illuminate the horrific carnage of the utterly nightmarish Fall of Jerusalem.
The more of Barker I’ve read over many years, the more fascinating it really is to see how early Christianity attempted to restore the Eternal Covenant theology of the First Temple and reverse the Cultural Revolution of the Deuteronomic scribes and Josiah’s reforms that so utterly transformed so much.
Most of all, the imagery of the lost Queen of Heaven, Lady Wisdom’s Tree of Life growing in the midst of the Heavenly Jerusalem — itself laid out so that the city was the Holy of Holies of one immense Temple — with the waters of life flowing around Her roots, is lovely.
Barker ties it all together by detailing how the entire sequence reverses the story of the expulsion of Adam/Eve-as-First-Priest from the Eden-Temple in Genesis, so that there is no more curse on those who wish to eat from the Mothertree, and all repentant people are welcomed to be healed, exalted, and given eternal life at the Great White throne of God Most High.
Definitely a dense read, and not for the faint-of-heart (historical and theological presuppositions are questioned and shredded left and right), but very rewarding.
Barker makes a very compelling case that, rather than being recorded late in the first century (usually dated to the time of the Roman Emperor Domitian, between 81 and 96 AD), the first version of the scripture was actually the earliest of the writings eventually compiled into the New Testament, was known to Jesus, and was in fact a vital part of His ministry, the foundation and basis for all his subsequent teaching.
As the first sentence of the book itself says, it is “the Revelation” that Jesus Christ had, “which God gave unto him, to shew unto his servants things which must shortly come to pass.”
In other words, it is, in part, a record of Jesus’s own visions, written in the strange-to-modern-readers symbolic idiom of the priestly Temple mystics (whom Jesus had had contact with ever since He was a precocious 12-year-old learning in the Temple about Light symbolism and the merkavah mysticism of God’s Chariot Throne).
Barker does an amazingly eye-opening extrapolation of what Jesus was likely to have known, and what scriptures He was likely to have read that formed His own self-conception as the Great High (Melchizedek) Priest, chosen to perform the great Day of Atonement ritual to renew the Covenant of Lovingkindness (hesed) at the end of the Tenth Jubilee.
Some of my favorite aspects of the book were these glimpses we see of Jesus as an actual person: reading the Book of Isaiah (itself clearly influenced, as Barker shows, by the Enoch mythology of the Fallen Angels, etc) from the time He was a child, struggling with His adult calling after His baptism and Initiation, His temptations, and finally His acceptance of His mission to restore and heal the bonds of creation by pouring out His life in self-sacrifice (not the grisly “penal substitution” theory of later scholars).
Barker also clarifies how, in the time between the death of Jesus and the fall of Jerusalem and the destruction of the Second Temple in 70 AD, John was given authority to reveal these Temple visions to the early Christians — which, indeed, was likely one of the causes of the war against the vicious Roman overlords.
Barker shows how Revelation was a compilation of the seven letters to Asia warning the churches about Paul, along with John’s collection of oracles, full of Types and Anti-Types:
Draught and famine were made even worse by the intolerable economic situation of massive wealth inequality in Jerusalem created by the corrupt Priests; the “harlot” was the corrupted city of Jerusalem herself; the First Beast was the Emperor Nero (proven by the “666” gematria); the Second Beast was Josephus the False Prophet; the “Mighty Angel” coming in the cloud from Heaven was Jesus Himself in a personal vision to John, etc.
The whole book is remarkable scholarship, drawn from a wide range of evidence progressing over many centuries (Barker’s forte), but I was especially impressed with how she combined information drawn from Josephus to illuminate the horrific carnage of the utterly nightmarish Fall of Jerusalem.
The more of Barker I’ve read over many years, the more fascinating it really is to see how early Christianity attempted to restore the Eternal Covenant theology of the First Temple and reverse the Cultural Revolution of the Deuteronomic scribes and Josiah’s reforms that so utterly transformed so much.
Most of all, the imagery of the lost Queen of Heaven, Lady Wisdom’s Tree of Life growing in the midst of the Heavenly Jerusalem — itself laid out so that the city was the Holy of Holies of one immense Temple — with the waters of life flowing around Her roots, is lovely.
Barker ties it all together by detailing how the entire sequence reverses the story of the expulsion of Adam/Eve-as-First-Priest from the Eden-Temple in Genesis, so that there is no more curse on those who wish to eat from the Mothertree, and all repentant people are welcomed to be healed, exalted, and given eternal life at the Great White throne of God Most High.
Definitely a dense read, and not for the faint-of-heart (historical and theological presuppositions are questioned and shredded left and right), but very rewarding.
December 16, 2007
I read this book as a part of an assignment while working for a professor of religion at BYU. My job was to study the use of numbers in Revelation... Barker is an Old Testament scholar who is well aware of the magical properties ascribed to numbers in the ancient world. Her analysis and conclusions concerning Revelation are interesting, particularly her slant that sees Revelation as a primarily Jewish/Hebrew work. Her ideas concerning Ancient Israelite worship are dubious at best, the book is rather repetitive, but it did hold my interest.
February 10, 2010
I like Barker. Her insights, coming from her facility with ancient texts (especially the Enoch literature), are certainly interesting even if I don't always agree with her interpretations. This is the fourth book of hers I've read, and it strengthens my belief in the Mormon view that we believe the Bible to be the word of God, as far as it is translated correctly.
January 27, 2008
Wow. Great book. Barker's thesis is that the Revelation of Jesus Christ to John took place in the temple. WHERE each vision is given - by menorah, by veil, by altar, before the throne - modifies and reveals their meanings by placing them in a temple context.
September 9, 2008
A far ranging study of Revelation. She reads it as a revelation of Jesus Christ, as early and foundational to Christianity, rather than late and peripheral. She emphasizes temple symbolism and the immediate context.
December 28, 2014
I especially enjoyed her analysis of Babylon the prostitute and equating it with the Jerusalem Temple. Barker goes through all of the major symbols that appear in Revelations. She also argues for Revelations have a much more prominent place in the canon.
June 2, 2010
Awesome.
Displaying 1 - 10 of 10 reviews