요한계시록에 나타난 칼 주제

The Sword Motif in the Book of Revelation

The aim of this paper is to delve into the sword motif in the Book of Revelation which has been ignored by the New Testament scholars. Before investigating the sword motif in the Apocalypse of John, its usage in the Old Testament, the Jewish documents of the intertestamental period, and in the rest of the New Testament is studied beforehand as background. The main methodology for this study is semantics by paying proper attention to the textual context. When the meaning of sword is disputed, the four traditional interpretive methods (futurism, idealism, historicism, preterism) of the book of Revelation are compared with each other. Through this study, with two exceptions (appealing to his people to repent in Rev. 2:14 and the persecution of the faithful in Rev. 13:10[×2]), the fact that "Christ's judgment toward the persecuting power of the first readers of Revelation in the same vein of the Old Testament prophecy" is the gist of the matter that will be come to the fore. As Yahweh took hold of a sword for Israel in the Old Testament, so does Jesus for his people that is the first readers of the book of Revelation (Rev. 6:4, 8; 19:15, 21). However, as Yahweh took a sword against the disobedient Israelites, so does Jesus as the eschatological Judge for his people in order to appeal the repentance (Rev. 2:16). The sword motif in the book of Revelation is more intimately connected with the Old Testament and the intertestamental Jewish literatures which emphasized God's judgment on his enemies as well as his work of vindication and salvation for his people than the New Testament in which the persecution of Jesus and his followers comes more to the fore. In the present age, the Kingdom of God and his salvific work are realized not by the military power of soldier's sword, but by the sword of the word of Christ, who is the Divine Warrior and Judge.