Revelation Through Old Testament Eyes (Through Old Testament Eyes Series)

The book of Revelation simply cannot be understood apart from the Old Testament.

Through Old Testament Eyes is a new kind of commentary series that illuminates the Old Testament backgrounds, allusions, patterns, and references saturating the New Testament. The structure and content of the Old Testament were second nature to the New Testament authors and their audiences, but today's readers have no reference point for understanding their intricate role in the New Testament. Bible teachers, preachers, and students committed to understanding Scripture will gain insight through these rich Old Testament connections, which clarify puzzling passages and explain others in fresh ways.

The images of Revelation -- like a seven-sealed scroll, four horsemen bringing destruction and death, locusts from the Abyss, and more -- often seem hopelessly complex to today's readers and have led to egregious misunderstanding and misinterpretations. But as Tremper Longman demonstrates in Revelation Through Old Testament Eyes, this confusion arises from unfamiliarity with symbolism that Revelation's first readers readily comprehended. In large part, the imagery arises from first-century AD Greco-Roman culture and from the Old Testament, with its own background in ancient Near Eastern literature. Through its unmistakable Old Testament connections, Revelation exhorts readers to persevere in the present and place their hope in God for the future.

Avoiding overly technical discussions and interpretive debates to concentrate on Old Testament influences, Revelation Through Old Testament Eyes combines rigorous, focused New Testament scholarship with deep respect for the entire biblical text.

-Publisher.

Publisher Description

Through Old Testament Eyes is a new kind of commentary series that illuminates the Old Testament backgrounds, allusions, patterns, and references saturating the New Testament. This knowledge was second nature to the New Testament authors and their audiences, but often isn't the case for today's readers. Bible teachers, preachers, and students committed to understanding Scripture will gain insight through these rich Old Tes tament connections, which clarify puzzling passages and explain others in fresh ways. In Revelation Through Old Testament Eyes, Tremper Longman demonstrates that the confusion associated with the images throughout Revelation arises from unfamiliarity with symbolism that Revelation's first readers would have readily comprehended. Avoiding overly technical discussions and interpretive debates to concentrate on Old Testament influences, Revelation Through Old Testament Eyes combines rigorous, focused New Testament scholarship with deep respect for the entire biblical text. As an Old Testament scholar, I learned much from this excellent contribution by a seasoned and thoughtful colleague; as a Christian, my new understanding led to worship. This is a volume that pastors, scholars, and laypeople will find a valuable companion to reading and studying the canon's final book. --Lissa M. Wray Beal, Providence Theological Seminary There is no more sure-footed guide to this mysterioius book than a premier Old Testament scholar like Tremper Longman. This exceptionally clear and cogent commentary will open your eyess to this capstone volume of the New Testament like never before. --Mark L. Strauss, Bethel Seminary In short, to really get into a place where one can understand John's Scripture-saturated mind(which involves many more allusions and echoes than Old Testament quotes) you need a guide who himself has a Scripture-saturated mind. Tremper Longman is your man, for he has labored long in the scriptural vineyard, and always provides us with the good fruit of careful interpretation. --Ben Witherington III, Asbury Theological Seminary