The Streets of Heaven: The Ideology of Wealth in the Apocalypse of John 0865546096

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The Streets of Heaven The Ideology of Wealth in the Apocalypse of John

by

Robert M. Royalty, Jr.

MERCER UNIVERSITY PRESS

1998

The Streets of Heaven The Ideology of Wealth in the Apocalypse of John

I've never been to heaven, but I've been told, ... That the streets of heaven are paved with gold. . . . ("Swing Low, Sweet Chariot")

ISBN 0-86554-609-6

MUP/H465

The Streets of Heaven. The Ideology of Wealth in the Apocalypse of John. Copyright 6s and OVYKOLvwv6s implied by the lack of the article with 6vos), sorcery (aPllatCEla), fornication (nopvEla), and theft (KAE11 Ila ).

37Discussed in chap. 5 (see 163-64, 175-76) in terms of the use of Satan in messages and elsewhere; in chap. 6 (see 209-10) in terms of wealth and sex. 38According to Schussler Fiorenza, Priester for Gott, 373-75, Rev 5:10, 20:4-6, and 22:3-5 express an "eschatological reservation" in opposition to John's "gnosticizing" opponents. She thus connects, in a different manner, the promise of the New Jerusalem to the ideology of the Apocalypse. 390n white garments, cf. 19:14 and see above, "The Marriage of the Lamb," pp. 211-14. The speaker in 22:14-15 is most likely Christ, since Christ speaks in 22:12-13 and 22:16; but the identity of the voices in the epilogue is conjecture.

The New Jerusalem

225

speech in 21:8. 40 These vice lists specifically exclude John's opponents from the inheritance of the New Jerusalem, thereby denying them access to eternal heavenly wealth through socially acceptable means. All will not inherit the New Jerusalem. The point is made quite forcefully for the audience in the closing chapters of the Apocalypse; the list of those excluded from the heavenly city is repeated twice. Any hint of inclusivity in the visions of redemption is shattered by this climactic pronouncement from the throne of God. 41

Tour of the City The New Jerusalem has been properly introduced and characterized, according to the conventions of epideictic rhetoric, before the angel begins John's tour. The audience knows that the city is part of a new heaven and earth; that it is beautiful and opulent, adorned as a bride on her wedding day; that it is a place where God the pantokrat6r dwells and death and pain will no longer exist; and that it is a city of moral purity. The immoral opposition has been excluded from the New Jerusalem and sentenced to everlasting death. This city, God has told them, is the inheritance for "those who conquer," for the faithful members of the Christian church who have struggled and endured. Finally, the bride appears, and with much more luxurious attire than just fine linen (see 19:8). The angel takes John to a high mountain in the spirit where he can view and describe the city (Rev 21 :9-10).42 Pure wealth is a more prominent part of John's vision of the New Jerusalem (21:1-22:5) than of any other of the displays of heavenly wealth that precede it in the book of Revelation. The narrator's tour of the heavenly city by the angel falls into three main sections: an introduction and overview (21:9-14); a detailed physical description and amplificatio of the city's wealth

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