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00:01This is the story of a unique and terrifying book.
00:06You have beasts, the devil, at work.
00:10Its visions have inspired and scared for 2,000 years.
00:15Many see in the pages of the Book of Revelation
00:18an uncanny series of predictions,
00:21global warming, the Chernobyl nuclear disaster,
00:25war in the Middle East.
00:27There is no more perfect battleground in the world than this.
00:34Some believe the book is a guide
00:36to one of the greatest riddles of all,
00:39the date for the end of the world.
00:44Could the Book of Revelation hold such a secret?
00:47New evidence has revealed that the key to the mystery
00:51of this last book in the Bible
00:53lies in the dust of modern-day Turkey,
00:56and that the infamous number of the beast
00:58may not be 666 after all.
01:02The Book of Revelation
01:04The Book of Revelation
01:06The Book of Revelation
01:07To understand Revelation, we need to know who wrote it and where.
01:08The Book of Revelation
01:12Approximately 60 years after the death of Jesus,
01:13a collection of stories of the Book of Revelation
01:17To understand Revelation, we need to know who wrote it and where.
01:37Approximately 60 years after the death of Jesus,
01:41a collection of scrolls was delivered to the small Christian community
01:45in Ephesus in Asia Minor, modern-day Turkey.
01:50The scrolls contained what is now known as the Book of Revelation.
01:58The author's name was in the book, John.
02:06Tradition says that this is the disciple John,
02:09the fisherman son of Zebedee, the writer of John's Gospel,
02:13who looked after Mary, Jesus' mother, after her son's crucifixion.
02:20Yet in Revelation, John never describes himself as a disciple of Jesus,
02:25nor writes as if he ever knew him.
02:27Now, new scientific methods can help resolve the question of who the author really was.
02:42Sir Anthony Kenny is a leading expert in stylometry, which analyses writing technique.
02:47The things that are most characteristic of authors are not special words that are their favourites,
02:57but the frequency with which they use very common words.
03:02Two of these common words examined by Sir Anthony were de, a word similar to but,
03:08the word and is twice as frequent in the Book of Revelation as it is in any other book of the New Testament,
03:18whereas the Gospel of John is not particularly fond of and.
03:22Its use is less than average.
03:25On the other hand, the Greek word de,
03:27which is very frequent in any other Greek text I've ever met,
03:31occurs only seven times in the whole of the Book of Revelation.
03:35Sir Anthony carried out 99 similar tests on Revelation and John's Gospel.
03:43His results were conclusive.
03:46I could, by using a simple statistical technique,
03:49put together these 99 tests into a particular way of discriminating between texts,
03:57and it was at the outcome of that that I saw that the Fourth Gospel
04:01and the Book of Revelation were right apart.
04:05I think that it's extremely unlikely that the two books were written by the same author.
04:15So the case for John the Disciple writing the Book of Revelation doesn't seem a strong one.
04:29Greg Carey, an expert in the meaning of Revelation,
04:33believes there are further clues in the book that can point us to the author.
04:37John addresses his audience in such a direct way.
04:41He says,
04:42I, John, your brother,
04:44as if he's someone who knows them and whom they will recognize.
04:47The Book of Revelation begins with a series of seven letters
04:55to churches that are located in what we call Asia Minor or southwestern Turkey.
05:00Each letter addresses a single church,
05:04congratulates it for its virtues or admonishes it for its faults,
05:09so that one assumes that John knew these churches and had been present among them.
05:15And there's a further indication that John was writing to a congregation.
05:29John's apocalypse, which means revelation,
05:33describes colourful visions of angels and monsters.
05:36The letter, likely to have been dictated to a scribe,
05:41is clearly no routine correspondence to a Christian church.
05:46John has something important to say,
05:49and he uses his audience's imagination to help get his point across.
05:54It's important to remember that the Book of Revelation was written to be heard.
06:00John blesses those who hear the words of the prophecy,
06:03as well as the one who reads it,
06:05presumably aloud to an audience.
06:11In other words, the book was written to have an effect upon people
06:15who weren't studying it like we read books today,
06:18but were experiencing it through their imaginations,
06:22much as modern audiences listen to radio programs.
06:28And there was a clear need for revelation to be written for the ear and not the eye.
06:35Most early Christian communities would have had a few people who were literate,
06:40and they would most likely be the leaders of that particular community.
06:44But the majority would be illiterate.
06:47And this was a reflection of society generally.
06:49So John was almost certainly a man of authority in the church,
06:57writing to his flocks in Asia Minor.
06:59Yet that raises a fundamental question.
07:04Seven-headed demons, four terrifying horsemen,
07:07are unusual images, even by first-century standards.
07:12What made John draw on such fearsome images to convey his message?
07:17To understand the true meaning of the book,
07:32we need to go back to its roots.
07:36According to the Bible,
07:38John wrote revelation on the island of Patmos off the Turkish coast,
07:42at that time, under the control of the Roman Empire.
07:49John tells his audience that he's on the island
07:52because of the word of God and the testimony of Jesus.
07:58Whenever the book of Revelation mentions the testimony of Jesus,
08:02it connects it to suffering.
08:04In fact, the Greek word martus for witness
08:08has become our word martyr,
08:10and it takes that usage first in the book of Revelation.
08:19If John was suffering on Patmos,
08:22then was he a prisoner of the Romans?
08:27Ian Boxall is an expert on the author of Revelation.
08:32This is the cave where, according to tradition,
08:36John has his visions.
08:38You can see the place over there
08:39where, traditionally, he laid his head,
08:42and then, not being quite so agile,
08:45there's a grip for him to lever himself up.
08:49John, according to all the traditions,
08:51is here as an exile.
08:54They differ precisely as to why he was here,
08:59who exiled him,
09:00but they all agree that he was here
09:03as a result of his Christian belief.
09:08Although there is no archaeological evidence
09:11of a Roman prison,
09:13the location of the island
09:14suggests it served a military purpose.
09:19Patmos may have been one of a number of fortress islands
09:22defending the important Roman seaport of Miletus,
09:25about 40 miles away on the mainland.
09:29It was an ideal place to detain exiles.
09:36But if John was in exile,
09:39it seems strange that he had the freedom
09:41to find a cave,
09:43see visions,
09:44write them down,
09:45and then to send the documents
09:47to his churches back on the mainland.
09:49This may well be due to the way Rome exiled troublemakers.
09:56When Roman authorities would place someone in exile,
09:59he would have had quite a bit of freedom.
10:02He wouldn't have been imprisoned.
10:03He would have only been excluded
10:05from appearing in certain regions,
10:07or he would have been told
10:08that he had to restrict his movements
10:10to just this one island.
10:11But he may have been able
10:13to carry on a correspondence
10:15through intermediaries
10:16who would sail from the island
10:18back to the mainland
10:19and return
10:20so that he may have been able
10:22to keep in touch
10:22with the churches he was addressing.
10:28Despite this freedom to communicate,
10:31John was still trapped on Patmos,
10:34separated from the Christian churches
10:36in Asia Minor.
10:38This sense of frustration
10:39may have led John to write Revelation
10:41with its violent images
10:43of worldwide catastrophe.
10:46The theory is that John was furious
10:48with the Romans
10:49for persecuting him
10:50and his fellow Christians.
10:53There's a lot of anger in Revelation
10:56and a yearning for justice to be done.
11:01And that's often been seen
11:03as a direct result
11:05of Roman persecution of Christians.
11:09On the face of it,
11:18John had every reason to be angry.
11:22The established view
11:23is that in the first century,
11:25the Roman authorities
11:26systematically persecuted Christians
11:29across the empire.
11:32It was believed
11:33that the violence started
11:35about 20 years before Revelation
11:37was written under the reign
11:39of the Emperor Nero
11:40in A.D. 64.
11:43Tradition has it
11:44that Nero blamed the Christians
11:45for the tragic and catastrophic fire
11:48that devastated the city in that year.
11:51Some Christians were crucified
11:52and used their bodies as torches
11:55to light the pathways into the city.
11:57It was such a devastating experience
12:02that the memories of Nero
12:04stayed within early Christian communities.
12:08Most academics agree
12:09that Nero did persecute Christians.
12:12But Revelation probably wasn't written under Nero.
12:17It's been dated to around A.D. 90
12:19in the reign of the Emperor Domitian.
12:23And the evidence in Revelation itself
12:25seems to show that Domitian
12:27was far less brutal than Nero.
12:33If Revelation had been motivated
12:36by the persecution of John's community,
12:38then you might expect him
12:40to list a host of martyrs by name.
12:42In fact, Revelation mentions only one.
12:46The book is obsessed
12:47with those who have died
12:49on account of their testimony to Jesus,
12:51numbers them in the thousands.
12:53But he only names one,
12:55a believer named Antipas
12:57who has died on account of his testimony.
12:59Although John does mention
13:19the death of the martyr Antipas,
13:21there's now evidence
13:22that the Emperor Domitian
13:24may not have the blood
13:26of many Christians on his hands
13:28after all.
13:30Recent historians have begun
13:32to question whether Domitian
13:35actually did persecute Christians
13:36and indeed whether he was
13:38quite the tyrant
13:39that he was made out to be
13:40by later historians.
13:43There's not a great deal of evidence
13:45for that when one begins
13:47to scratch the surface.
13:52So if Christians were not
13:54being systematically persecuted,
13:56it's hard to imagine
13:58how Revelation could have had
14:00any impact on its audience.
14:03John must have had
14:04another target.
14:06These second-century ruins
14:21hold a vital clue
14:22as to what drove John
14:24to write Revelation
14:25and whether the book
14:26really does have the key
14:28to the end of the world.
14:29The ancient city of Pergamon
14:35lies 200 miles north of Ephesus
14:38in modern-day Turkey
14:39and it was a major political
14:41and religious centre
14:42in the Roman province
14:43of Asia Minor.
14:45It was also home
14:46to one of the fledgling
14:47Christian communities
14:49who first received
14:50the book of Revelation.
14:51But Dan Showalter,
14:56an expert in biblical archaeology,
14:59believes that Pergamon's
15:00pagan temples
15:01give the greatest insight
15:03into what concerned John.
15:06The partially reconstructed remains
15:08give us a good idea
15:09of what an impressive building
15:10this would have been.
15:11But it was actually
15:12in the courtyard around the temple
15:14where most of the activity
15:15would have taken place.
15:16There would have been sacrifice
15:17on an altar
15:18in front of the temple.
15:19The people would have gathered around,
15:22would have sung songs,
15:23would have offered prayers
15:24and vows.
15:26And then when the ceremony
15:27was over,
15:27they might have been able
15:28to take home some meat
15:29to help supplement their diet.
15:36John was familiar
15:37with pagan worship,
15:39but this religious practice
15:40was growing in popularity
15:42and was in direct conflict
15:44with Christianity.
15:46It had begun
15:46around 100 years
15:48before Domitian
15:49with the building
15:50of temples
15:51to a new god,
15:53the emperor Augustus.
16:06There would have been sacrifices
16:08that took place
16:08at the imperial temple
16:10where people in the city
16:11would have gathered
16:12and participated
16:13in honoring
16:14both the presence
16:16and power of Rome
16:17and the emperor
16:18as an individual.
16:23This idolatry spread
16:25across Asia Minor
16:26throughout the first century.
16:29Every city
16:30in the Roman Empire
16:31had many temples,
16:32but this was one
16:33built to worship
16:34and give thanks
16:35to a living person,
16:37an imperial god.
16:38and here may lie
16:40the key to revelation.
16:42For John,
16:43this cult of the emperor
16:45would have been
16:46a terrible blasphemy.
16:48John would have resisted
16:50the imperial cult
16:51because it stood
16:53against the belief
16:54in Jesus
16:55that he was so interested
16:56in promoting.
16:58John is a Jewish Christian
17:01and he knows
17:03there's only one true god,
17:04so he cannot,
17:07because of his upbringing,
17:08compromise in any way
17:10on that basic fact.
17:19But the most compelling evidence
17:22that the Roman Empire,
17:24and especially the imperial cult,
17:26was John's target,
17:28comes from one
17:29of his most frightening visions,
17:31a terrifying beast
17:33who makes war
17:34against God's people.
17:36The beast, he writes,
17:37demands worship
17:38and this gives the first clue
17:41as to what it really represents.
17:44Worship of the imperial gods
17:46had become extremely popular
17:48to the degree
17:49that persons
17:50who didn't participate
17:51may have been perceived
17:52as disloyal.
17:55In this strange vision,
17:56the beast had not one head,
17:58but seven.
17:59By John's time,
18:02seven emperors
18:03had ruled the empire.
18:05John tells us
18:06that these are seven kings
18:07or rulers,
18:09and though scholars
18:10can't agree
18:10on which Roman emperors
18:12these seven heads
18:13may represent,
18:14they seem to represent
18:15Roman imperial power.
18:18John also associates
18:19the beast
18:20with seven hills,
18:22and of course,
18:22the city of Rome
18:23was known then
18:24as it is now
18:25as the city
18:25of seven hills.
18:37To many academics,
18:39these cryptic
18:40but repeated references
18:42to the beast
18:43show that John's target
18:45isn't Roman persecution,
18:47but the paganism
18:48of the imperial cult.
18:52However,
18:52that can't be
18:53the whole story.
18:55John's audience
18:56as fellow Christians
18:57would have shared
18:58his views
18:59and therefore
19:00there'd have been
19:01no need
19:02to write such a letter.
19:04But a closer look
19:05at the text
19:06of Revelation
19:07reveals just why
19:08John felt
19:09it was so important
19:10to send his message.
19:13John, it seems,
19:14may have been
19:15alarmed about
19:16the behaviour
19:17of some members
19:18of his flock.
19:20One such church
19:21was to be found
19:22in another part
19:23of the Roman Empire.
19:37To the south
19:38of Pergamum
19:39was the ancient
19:40city of Ephesus.
19:44Standing on this square
19:52in the ancient city
19:53of Ephesus,
19:54it's easy to get
19:55a sense of the Ephesus
19:56that John would have known.
19:58The streets would have
20:00been full of people,
20:01the shops full of people
20:02selling their wares.
20:04This was an ancient
20:05port city
20:05where people would have
20:06come from all over
20:08the Mediterranean world
20:09and beyond
20:09to trade,
20:10to share ideas,
20:12and sometimes
20:12to share religions.
20:14In this Mediterranean
20:17cultural melting pot,
20:19the Christian church
20:20would have been
20:21a tiny minority.
20:24A theatre like this
20:25would hold 25,000 people
20:27and the Christian community,
20:29the churches here,
20:30would probably account
20:31for a very small percentage
20:32of that.
20:34The Christians probably
20:35would have filled up
20:36only a couple of rows.
20:37of the churches.
20:38The pressure on these communities
20:47was great,
20:48especially in a thriving
20:50pagan center like Ephesus.
20:53Pressure that could weaken
20:54the faith
20:55of a struggling church.
20:59Their neighbors
21:00were continually celebrating
21:02the various gods
21:03who were popular
21:04in the region,
21:05as well as
21:06the imperial gods
21:07of Rome,
21:07and on occasion
21:08even the emperor himself.
21:12Symbols of the various deities
21:13would be all around them.
21:19One of the major issues
21:21for somebody like John
21:22seems not to be
21:23the fact that they
21:24are suffering persecution,
21:26but the fact that
21:27they've just become
21:28too comfortable.
21:29they've settled down.
21:30They've found their place
21:31in society.
21:33And he's wanted
21:34to shake them up a bit.
21:37If John was writing
21:38to those Christians
21:39who had begun
21:40to worship Rome's emperors,
21:42it would help explain
21:43why the last book
21:44of the Bible was written.
21:46The visions were less
21:47about prophesying the future
21:49and more about chastising
21:51those who had joined
21:52the imperial cult.
21:55But there is something
21:56left unanswered.
21:57the vivid apocalyptic images
22:00which have captured
22:01the imagination
22:02of millions of Christians
22:03for centuries.
22:10What possible meaning
22:12could these visions
22:13have had for John's churches?
22:17Maybe they had little to do
22:19with the cult
22:20of the divine emperor
22:21and everything to do
22:23with the visions
22:24of a terrifying future.
22:27to those who lived
22:352,000 years ago,
22:37John's visions
22:38of the four horsemen,
22:40Armageddon
22:41and the beast
22:41may have held
22:43entirely different meanings
22:44than today.
22:46Some see them now
22:47as signs
22:48for the end of the world,
22:49but that's not necessarily
22:51what John meant.
22:52the word apocalyptic
22:55had a different emphasis
22:56then.
22:58Many people,
23:00when they hear
23:00the word apocalyptic,
23:01think about the end
23:02of the world.
23:03But that's only part
23:04of this great tradition.
23:07In fact,
23:09there had been
23:09other apocalypses
23:11or revelations
23:12written in the previous
23:13200 years.
23:14The key feature
23:17of apocalyptic literature
23:18is that it claims
23:20to reveal
23:21God's will directly.
23:23It's a message
23:24that no ordinary mortal
23:25would have access to.
23:28They're all stories.
23:30A single human visionary
23:32has this dramatic
23:33revelatory experience
23:34and he requires
23:36the assistance
23:37of a heavenly being
23:38to explain
23:39what he's seeing
23:40and experiencing.
23:41So the apocalypses unfold
23:43as stories describing
23:45these experiences.
23:49Apocalypses promise
23:51the readers
23:51an escape
23:52from the harsh reality
23:54of everyday life.
23:56For first century Christians,
23:58John's writings
23:59offer a world
24:00where their faith triumphs.
24:02They promise
24:04their audience
24:05God's world.
24:06It's either
24:06in the heavenly realms
24:07or it's coming
24:08in the future.
24:10And it's a world
24:11where the faithful
24:11will be rewarded
24:12for their faithfulness
24:14and where justice
24:15will prevail
24:16and where wickedness
24:18will be judged.
24:22John was in good company.
24:25Some scholars believe
24:26that Jesus himself
24:27was deeply influenced
24:29by apocalyptic literature.
24:30One of the most famous
24:33prayers in the world
24:34seems to share
24:35the same themes
24:36as the book of Revelation.
24:38When the disciples
24:40of Jesus ask him
24:41to teach them
24:42how to pray,
24:44then Jesus teaches them
24:46to say the Lord's Prayer.
24:48And that prayer
24:49can be read apocalyptically.
24:52Thy kingdom come,
24:54thy will be done
24:55on earth
24:56as it is in heaven.
24:57That implies
24:58that the kingdom of God
24:59has not yet come
25:00to earth,
25:01that the will of God
25:02is not being done
25:03on earth.
25:05So that's like
25:05the book of Revelation,
25:07seeing God
25:08and Christ
25:08exalted in heaven.
25:12And the Lord's Prayer
25:13may even have
25:15a beast of its own.
25:17As God's kingdom
25:18began to come,
25:20then the powers of evil
25:21would do their uttermost
25:22to battle against it.
25:23So you have beasts,
25:26you have the devil at work.
25:28And that's probably
25:30what is meant
25:30at the end
25:31of the Lord's Prayer.
25:34Lead us not into the trial,
25:36but deliver us from evil,
25:38or probably deliver us
25:39from the evil one,
25:40deliver us from
25:40the power of Satan.
25:43If Jesus used apocalyptic imagery,
25:46why not his follower John?
25:48Perhaps this tradition
25:57of apocalyptic writing
25:59can help decipher
26:00some of John's visions,
26:03like the infamous
26:04four horsemen
26:05of the apocalypse.
26:10These terrifying beings
26:12appear first
26:13in a text
26:14from the Old Testament,
26:15the book
26:16of the prophet Zechariah.
26:18But John
26:27didn't just copy
26:28these images.
26:30His genius lay
26:31in updating them
26:32for the first century.
26:34In Zechariah,
26:36each horse is linked
26:37with a particular color.
26:40John takes this idea,
26:41but gives it
26:42a new twist.
26:44His first century audience
26:46would probably have understood
26:47the meaning of the colors.
26:50Ian Boxall believes
26:51he can crack John's cold.
26:54John seems to make
26:56the significance
26:57of the colors
26:57more explicit.
26:58You have a red horse.
27:03Red is the color of blood
27:05and, according to tradition,
27:07the color of the kind of
27:09idolatrous luxury
27:10which has brought Rome
27:12its current dominance,
27:14but at the expense
27:15of so much blood being shed.
27:18The rider on the black horse
27:20seems to symbolize
27:22famine and disaster,
27:24the aftermath of war.
27:26Then, there is a pale
27:30or green horse,
27:32the sickly color
27:33of death itself.
27:36But one horseman
27:37described by John,
27:39the rider on the white horse,
27:41has a bow in his hand.
27:43This suggests vengeance
27:44is on John's mind
27:45and he believes it will come
27:47at the hand of Rome's sworn enemy.
27:50Now, the average Christian
27:52would know that
27:53the great enemy of Rome,
27:55the great threat to Rome
27:56on the east,
27:57the Parthian Empire,
27:58had a cavalry
28:00which carried bows.
28:04The Parthians
28:06are on their way
28:07and the ultimate effect
28:09of this will be
28:10the destruction
28:11of this apparently
28:13impregnable empire.
28:14So even the vision
28:18of the four horsemen
28:19is part of John's encouragement
28:21to the Christian church
28:23that the empire's days
28:25were numbered.
28:30But the four horsemen
28:31are not the only
28:33apocalyptic images
28:34in the book.
28:35Just as famous
28:36is Armageddon,
28:39the battlefield
28:39where Revelation says
28:41the forces of good
28:43and evil
28:43will wage war.
28:47Archaeological evidence
28:48shows that this image too
28:50is meant to evoke
28:52hatred of the Romans.
28:57This is Megiddo
28:59in the Jezreel Valley
29:01in modern-day Israel.
29:03Archaeologists believe
29:04that its name holds a clue
29:06to the site of Armageddon.
29:09In Hebrew,
29:11the site of Megiddo
29:11was actually Har Megiddo,
29:13the mountain of Megiddo.
29:15And we go from Har Megiddo
29:16to Har Megiddon
29:17to Armageddon.
29:19And indeed,
29:20in some of the earliest versions
29:21of the New Testament
29:22written in Greek,
29:24Armageddon has an aspirant
29:25at the beginning,
29:26meaning it's pronounced
29:27with an H.
29:28So it originally was
29:30Har Megiddon
29:31and you can get from
29:32Har Megiddo
29:32to Har Megiddon
29:33very easily.
29:36This tranquil site
29:37seems an unlikely place
29:39for John to choose
29:40as the location
29:41for the battle
29:42at the end of the world.
29:44But in fact,
29:46it was entirely appropriate.
29:48The Jezreel Valley
29:49would have been
29:50the bloodiest place
29:51in Palestine
29:52that John knew about.
29:54At the time that John
29:55is writing
29:55in the first century A.D.,
29:57there had already been
29:5912 or 13 battles fought
30:01either at Megiddo
30:03or in the Jezreel Valley
30:04itself.
30:07Napoleon supposedly said,
30:09there is no more
30:11perfect battleground
30:12in the world
30:12than this.
30:14And looking over
30:15the Jezreel Valley,
30:16I have no trouble
30:17believing that.
30:18Archaeologists believe
30:30there's also
30:32a very practical reason
30:33why John chose Megiddo
30:35as his battle site.
30:39In his time,
30:41it was the base
30:42for one of the most
30:43brutal armies
30:44in the Eastern Mediterranean,
30:47the Roman Sixth Legion.
30:49We know that the Romans
30:51located their camp here,
30:53the camp for the Sixth Legion.
30:56They were continuing
30:57the job that ancient Megiddo
30:59always did
31:00throughout history,
31:01protecting the area,
31:03controlling the pass,
31:04controlling the trade routes.
31:06The Sixth Legion
31:08had a nickname
31:09that reflected their strength
31:11and ruthlessness in battle.
31:12They were called
31:14the Ironsides.
31:17The Ironsides
31:18have a particularly
31:19nasty reputation
31:20amongst the Roman legions.
31:22They were known
31:23for their brutality.
31:26They would have used
31:28all the known means
31:29that we know the Romans
31:30did against
31:31subduing populations,
31:33crucifying them,
31:35flaying them alive.
31:37They crucified people
31:39all the way
31:39from the coast
31:41to Jerusalem.
31:41So where better
31:45to place a battle
31:46between the forces
31:47of good and evil
31:48than at the headquarters
31:49of an army
31:50whose reputation
31:51caused fear
31:53across the empire?
31:54Anybody at that time
31:56would have known
31:57that the legionnaires
31:58would come to here.
32:01These were the forces
32:02of darkness
32:03at Megiddo.
32:04John realized
32:08that any major battle
32:09fought for control
32:10of this region
32:11or control
32:12of the world
32:13is going to have
32:14to involve Megiddo.
32:15It had been so crucial
32:16in previous battles.
32:18From his point of view,
32:19there was no reason
32:20to suppose
32:20that it wouldn't be crucial
32:22in upcoming battles.
32:23If John's aim
32:26in Revelation
32:27is not to predict
32:28the end of the world
32:30but to attack
32:31the Roman Empire
32:32using contemporary events
32:34and ancient
32:35apocalyptic tradition,
32:37then perhaps
32:37we can look differently
32:39at the most famous
32:40prophecy of all.
32:43666,
32:44the number of the beast.
32:46If the beast means
32:49the emperor,
32:50then what did John
32:51mean by its number?
32:56The ancient world
32:58loved puzzles.
33:00A common trick
33:00was to use numbers
33:02to disguise a name.
33:05In the Greek
33:05and Hebrew alphabets,
33:07every letter
33:08had a corresponding number
33:09so if you added up
33:11the total value
33:12of the letters
33:13in your name,
33:14you had a numerical code.
33:16So here's a good example.
33:18Anna,
33:19written in Greek capitals
33:21which just happen
33:21to be the same as ours.
33:23Now the number for A,
33:25alpha,
33:25is one
33:26and the number for N
33:28is 50.
33:29So do a bit of
33:31simple arithmetic
33:33and you end up
33:38with 102
33:39as the number
33:40of the name of Anna.
33:42Ancient graffiti
33:43has survived
33:44that suggests
33:45this game
33:46had a mainly
33:47frivolous purpose.
33:49There's quite a nice one
33:50that was found
33:50in Pompeii
33:51written on a wall
33:53somewhere.
33:54I love the girl
33:55whose number
33:55is 545.
33:58Now,
33:58she knew
33:59that her number
34:00was 545.
34:02Others perhaps
34:02had to do
34:03a bit of working out
34:05to find out
34:05precisely who she was.
34:06the number of the beast.
34:08But for John,
34:09this game
34:09is deadly serious.
34:10He gives us
34:12the puzzle
34:12in reverse.
34:13He gives the number
34:15and invites his audience
34:16to work back
34:17to the name.
34:20He writes in Revelation,
34:22let him or his understanding
34:25calculate the number
34:26of the beast,
34:27for it is a human number.
34:30Its number
34:30is 666.
34:34For historians,
34:36the answer
34:36seems obvious.
34:39Now,
34:40the best explanation
34:41is that
34:42John is thinking
34:44of the emperor Nero.
34:46And if you write
34:48the name
34:48Nero Caesar
34:49in the Hebrew alphabet,
34:52then you end up
34:53with this.
34:5550,
34:56200,
34:576,
34:5850,
34:59100,
35:0060,
35:00and 200,
35:01which then,
35:03with a little bit
35:03of swift arithmetic,
35:07gives us
35:08the number
35:09of Nero Caesar.
35:10666 seems
35:16to be
35:17an ancient code
35:18linking
35:18the emperor Nero
35:19with the number
35:20of the beast.
35:22But a collection
35:22of recently
35:23deciphered documents
35:24has cast doubt
35:26on whether
35:27666
35:27is really
35:29the number
35:29of the beast
35:30after all.
35:38100 years ago,
35:40a group
35:41of British
35:41archaeologists
35:42digging in
35:43the ancient
35:43Egyptian city
35:44of Oxyrhynchus
35:46made a fascinating
35:47discovery.
35:48Not buried treasure,
35:50but waste paper
35:51in a rubbish tip
35:5330 feet deep.
35:55This vast horde
35:57was brought back
35:58to Oxford,
35:59where ever since
36:00it has been cleaned,
36:01catalogued,
36:02and translated.
36:06Then,
36:07in 1999,
36:08a papyrus
36:09fragment
36:10was identified
36:11as a third-century
36:12extract from
36:13the book of
36:14Revelation.
36:16Closer examination
36:18revealed that
36:19the world's
36:20most infamous
36:20number was not
36:22what it seemed.
36:24You've got a
36:25tiny fragment here.
36:27It was written
36:27by somebody
36:28who was a good
36:29scribe.
36:29He wrote clearly
36:30and he wrote
36:31helpfully for people,
36:32but he also wrote
36:32quite quickly.
36:33And it has part of
36:35the line which
36:36would have read
36:37let the person
36:38with understanding
36:39calculate the number.
36:41It would have been
36:42somewhere there.
36:43And then three letters,
36:45each standing for
36:46a numeral.
36:48The letters are
36:48Chai, which stands for
36:50600,
36:51Jota, like our
36:53I, which stands
36:54for 10,
36:54and stigma
36:55at the end
36:56is a 6.
36:57So the number here
36:58clears daylight,
37:00616.
37:01If the number
37:04of the beast
37:05is 616,
37:07then it doesn't
37:07add up to Nero.
37:09It suggests
37:10that John's real
37:11target was
37:12someone else
37:13altogether.
37:15By applying
37:16the same rules
37:17of the number game,
37:18a new hate figure
37:20emerges,
37:22another Roman
37:22emperor.
37:24Caligula was
37:25emperor from
37:2637 to 41,
37:28and Caligula,
37:29in fact,
37:29was a nickname,
37:30his proper name,
37:31was Gaios.
37:32Now, if we take
37:33Gaios Caesar
37:34and change it
37:35into Greek letters,
37:36we get Gaios
37:37Kaisar.
37:39Giving a numerical
37:40value to each
37:41of the letters
37:41of that name,
37:43we end up
37:43with 284
37:45for Gaios,
37:47and for Kaisar,
37:50332.
37:53So that gives us
37:54616.
38:00the reason
38:06why John
38:06would see
38:07Caligula
38:08as the beast
38:09lies in a
38:10controversial decision
38:11made by the
38:12emperor
38:12during his
38:13short reign.
38:17Caligula ordered
38:18a statue of
38:19himself
38:19to be put
38:20in the temple
38:20at Jerusalem.
38:22This was a
38:23blasphemy to the
38:24Jews
38:24because the
38:25temple was
38:26dedicated to
38:27the worship
38:27of their
38:28one true
38:29god.
38:31It's very
38:31possible that
38:32it would continue
38:33to be unacceptable
38:34to early Christians
38:35with this strong
38:36folk memory
38:36of a defining
38:39act by a Roman
38:40emperor which
38:40stood up for
38:41everything which
38:42they found
38:42unacceptable in
38:44the imperial
38:44power.
38:45So if
38:52revelation
38:53isn't a
38:53prophecy
38:54about the
38:54end of the
38:55world but
38:56an attack
38:56on Rome
38:57where does
38:58that leave
38:59John's
38:59visions?
39:02Few
39:03scholars deny
39:04that John
39:04had visions.
39:06Indeed
39:06visionary
39:07experiences
39:08are so
39:08common
39:09in other
39:09faiths
39:10that in
39:11John's
39:11case
39:11they
39:12could
39:12have
39:13served
39:13to
39:13inspire
39:14his
39:14flock.
39:17John's
39:17vision was
39:18within a
39:18Christian
39:19tradition
39:19but it
39:20does seem
39:21to have
39:21many
39:21features
39:22that
39:22parallel
39:23that
39:24of
39:24shaman
39:24in other
39:24cultures.
39:26A shaman
39:27is somebody
39:28who can
39:29go into
39:29a controlled
39:30trance
39:31who is
39:32able to
39:32travel to
39:33other worlds
39:34other realms
39:34in order
39:35to receive
39:36a message
39:37who then
39:38returns
39:38in order
39:39to give
39:40that message
39:40or to
39:40heal
39:41somebody.
39:41And John
39:45like shamans
39:45in many
39:46cultures
39:47has a
39:48message
39:48which he
39:48communicates
39:49to others.
39:50It isn't
39:50something for
39:51him alone.
39:52It's a
39:52message for
39:53the community.
39:56He's there
39:57to heal
39:57his community
39:58to support
39:59them,
40:00to encourage
40:00them,
40:01sometimes
40:02to correct
40:03them.
40:11all the
40:14available evidence
40:15from recent
40:15archaeology
40:16and history
40:17suggests
40:18that the
40:18Book of
40:18Revelation
40:19is not
40:20a series
40:21of prophecies
40:22predicting
40:22the end
40:22of the
40:23world.
40:24Instead,
40:25it is an
40:26urgent message
40:27for a
40:27first-century
40:28audience
40:29in danger
40:30of being
40:31seduced
40:31by the
40:32Roman
40:33imperial
40:33cult.
40:34Rather than
40:36seeing John
40:38on this
40:39island as
40:40gazing into
40:41the dim
40:42and distant
40:42future,
40:42rather like
40:43a clairvoyant
40:44gazing into
40:45crystal ball,
40:46perhaps we
40:46should see
40:47John rather
40:48as sitting
40:49on this
40:50island gazing
40:51across the
40:51sea.
40:52The seven
40:53churches
40:54are over
40:54there.
40:54He's got
40:54an urgent
40:55message for
40:56them,
40:56and he
40:57wants them
40:58to hear
40:58it.
41:00Yet one
41:00stubborn
41:01question
41:01remains
41:02about
41:02John's
41:03prophecies.
41:05If
41:05Revelation
41:06is simply
41:06a church
41:07leader's
41:08attack
41:08on decadent
41:09first-century
41:10Christians,
41:11why does
41:12John seem
41:13to have
41:13an uncanny
41:14gift
41:14of foretelling
41:15future
41:16events?
41:18Are these
41:19just
41:19coincidences,
41:21or,
41:21as some
41:22people claim,
41:23accurate
41:24predictions
41:24of the
41:25end of
41:25the
41:25world?
41:30John's
41:30list of
41:31apparent
41:31predictions
41:32is
41:32impressive.
41:35Revelation
41:35talks about
41:36dramatic
41:37climate
41:37change,
41:38the seas
41:39drying up,
41:40and
41:40unbearable
41:41heat.
41:43In
41:43recent years,
41:44scientists,
41:44of course,
41:44have warned
41:45us with
41:46increasing
41:47urgency
41:47about
41:48global
41:48warming,
41:49about
41:50the
41:50greenhouse
41:50effect,
41:51with
41:51possibilities
41:52of
41:52increasing
41:53levels
41:53of
41:54skin
41:54cancers,
41:54with
41:55effects
41:56of
41:56global
41:56warming
41:56on
41:57the
41:57water
41:57systems
41:58of
41:59the
41:59world.
42:01Another
42:01apparent
42:01prediction
42:02talks of
42:03the drying
42:03up of
42:04the river
42:05Euphrates
42:05to make
42:06way for
42:06the armies
42:07of the
42:07Kingdom
42:08of the
42:08East,
42:09who would
42:09number
42:09200
42:10million.
42:11In
42:11recent
42:12years,
42:12there have
42:12been
42:13a number
42:13of
42:13proposals
42:14to build
42:15dams
42:16on the
42:17Euphrates
42:17River.
42:19One of
42:19these
42:20dams
42:20was called
42:21the
42:21Ataturk
42:21Dam.
42:23And then
42:23during the
42:24period when
42:25Americans and
42:26others were
42:27very concerned
42:27about Chinese
42:28communism,
42:30there were
42:30studies of
42:31the size
42:32of the
42:32Chinese
42:33military,
42:34and some
42:34estimates
42:35ranged as
42:36high as
42:36200 million.
42:38And I
42:38think this
42:39was viewed
42:39as another
42:40example of
42:41an uncannily
42:42precise
42:43prophecy
42:44being
42:44fulfilled.
42:48And
42:49perhaps
42:49most
42:51chilling
42:51of
42:51all,
42:52Revelation
42:53talks
42:53about
42:54a
42:54great
42:54star
42:55called
42:56Wormwood,
42:57falling
42:57from
42:58heaven
42:58upon
42:58the
42:58rivers,
43:00turning
43:00them
43:00bitter
43:00and
43:01killing
43:01many
43:02people.
43:04At
43:04Chernobyl
43:04in the
43:05Ukraine
43:05in 1986
43:07occurred
43:07a nuclear
43:09disaster
43:10that's
43:11really
43:11the worst
43:11we've
43:12had
43:12in world
43:12history.
43:14The
43:14power plant
43:15melted
43:16down,
43:17a wave
43:17of
43:17radioactivity
43:18swept
43:19over the
43:19area,
43:20the local
43:20residents
43:21died
43:21or were
43:22seriously,
43:23seriously
43:23affected.
43:26In the
43:27Ukraine,
43:29the word
43:29Chernobyl
43:30means
43:31Wormwood.
43:34For many
43:35people,
43:36this is
43:36evidence
43:37of John's
43:37gift
43:38of accurate
43:39prophecy.
43:40prophecy.
43:42If you
43:42believe the
43:43prophecies,
43:44in fact,
43:45are delivered
43:45by God
43:46and that
43:47they tell
43:47us about
43:48future events,
43:49if we can
43:50interpret them
43:50correctly,
43:51then all
43:52events unfolding
43:53in the world
43:54take on a
43:55particular
43:55spiritual
43:56significance.
43:58But for
43:59some scholars,
44:00the evidence
44:01from history
44:01contradicts the
44:03idea that
44:04John had a
44:05gift for
44:05prophecy.
44:06for 2,000
44:08years,
44:09revelation
44:09has been
44:10used to
44:11set a
44:11time for
44:12what some
44:12see as
44:13John's
44:13ultimate
44:14prophecy,
44:16the date
44:16for the
44:17end of
44:17the world.
44:18And it's
44:19clearly not
44:20been right
44:21yet.
44:22Down
44:22through the
44:22ages,
44:23there have
44:23been almost
44:23endless
44:24examples of
44:25people and
44:25individuals who
44:26thought they
44:27could identify
44:28the specific
44:29date when
44:30the end
44:30would come.
44:36the year
44:401000 in
44:41Europe in
44:41the 19th
44:42century,
44:421843,
44:441844,
44:46the year
44:461666,
44:481987,
44:49the year
44:502000,
44:50of course.
44:56Many scholars
44:57believe that
44:59John's prophecies
45:00were not intended
45:01for the 21st
45:02century reader
45:03at all,
45:04but for the
45:05first century
45:06church.
45:07He tells that
45:08audience that
45:09what he's
45:09narrating are
45:11the things that
45:11are about to
45:12happen soon.
45:13That claim occurs
45:14at the very
45:15beginning of the
45:16book in the
45:16first verse and
45:18also in the
45:18last chapter,
45:19so that he
45:20believed he was
45:21living in the
45:22climatic moments
45:23of history.
45:26I think John
45:27would have been
45:28surprised that
45:29we're talking
45:29about his book
45:30today.
45:35Although it
45:37seems that the
45:38book of
45:38Revelation isn't
45:40as many had
45:40hoped and
45:41perhaps many
45:42more have
45:42feared a
45:43vision for
45:43the end of
45:44the world,
45:45one of John's
45:46prophecies may
45:48actually have
45:48come true.
45:49in the ruins of
46:02Ephesus,
46:03fallen statues
46:04were discovered,
46:06statues of the
46:07emperor Augustus
46:08and his wife
46:09Livia.
46:12They had been
46:13vandalized.
46:14the pagan
46:16imperial god
46:17had been marked
46:18with the sign
46:19of the cross.
46:22One of John's
46:23predictions had
46:25definitely come
46:26to pass, an
46:28event which
46:29changed the
46:30world forever.
46:32In the early
46:334th century,
46:35the emperor
46:35Constantine decides
46:36that this policy
46:37of trying to
46:38wipe out the
46:38church is not
46:39going to work
46:40and he declares
46:41that Christianity
46:42is an official
46:43religion within
46:44the empire.
46:46From that point
46:47on, the church
46:48continues to grow
46:49and develop until
46:50by the end of
46:50the 4th century,
46:51it has become
46:52the dominant force
46:53within the empire.
46:57John's vision
46:58that the Roman
46:59empire would fall,
47:00the beast would
47:01be defeated,
47:02and God's church
47:03would triumph,
47:05did after all
47:06come true.
47:08The vision
47:09provided by the
47:10author of
47:10Revelation of
47:11a fallen Rome,
47:12the destruction
47:14of all the
47:14glorious buildings
47:15that we can
47:16still see evidence
47:17of today,
47:18is in some ways
47:19a fulfillment of
47:20what John
47:21expected to happen.
47:28John of Patmos,
47:30the angry exile,
47:32may not only have
47:33predicted the end
47:34of the pagan empire,
47:36he might have
47:36played a part in
47:37its downfall
47:38by giving Christians
47:40the courage
47:41to make it happen.
47:44If the churches
47:45had been lured in
47:47by the glory
47:48that Rome was
47:49offering,
47:50it's very likely
47:50that the church
47:51would not have
47:52survived.
47:53There's no reason
47:54to think that a
47:55small minority group
47:56would have been
47:56able to persevere
47:57if they hadn't
47:59had the faith
48:00to stand up to
48:01and resist the
48:02temptations and
48:03the threats that
48:04the empire brought
48:05against them.
48:07Although many
48:08will continue to
48:09gain hope and
48:10inspiration from
48:12its words,
48:13perhaps the true
48:14significance of
48:15revelation is to
48:17be found in the
48:18past rather than
48:20the future.
48:35of the
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