Copyright © 2024 Michael A. Brown
In order to understand and interpret correctly the use of the
Greek adverbial phrase μετά ταῦτα (meta tauta) in Revelation 1:19 and 4:1, it is useful to start with an overview
of its use throughout the book of Revelation. If we have a good idea of how it is used
generally in the book, then this will inform our understanding and
interpretation of its use in 1:19 and 4:1.
Altogether, this phrase is
used in nine verses in Revelation. Using
the AV, in these verses it is rendered variously as ‘hereafter’ (1:19, 4:1,
9:12), ‘after these things’ (7:1, 18:1, 19:1), ‘after this’ (4:1, 7:9), and ‘after
that’ (15:5, 20:3). The sections below
indicate how this phrase is used in these verses.
1.
John is relating
a series of events that would flow on from each other chronologically as the vision(s)
which pertain(s) to them is/are fulfilled
a.
9:12 ‘One woe is past; and, behold, there come two
woes more hereafter (μετά ταῦτα).’
John has seen the vision
of the first woe (the fifth trumpet), and the next two woes (the sixth and seventh
trumpets) would then follow on from the first.
These three woes describe the rise and reign of Antichrist. The use of
this narrative marker in 9:12 and the similar one in 11:14 indicates that the fulfilment
of the events of the three woes will work out consecutively over time. So the phrase μετά ταῦτα simply indicates this chronological order of
events.
b. 20:3 ‘And cast him into
the bottomless pit, and shut him up, and set a seal upon him, that he should
deceive the nations no more, till the thousand years should be fulfilled: and after that (μετά
ταῦτα) he
must be loosed a little season.’
John is relating the series of events
concerning Satan during the time of Christ’s millennial reign on earth. He is seized, bound and thrown into the Abyss
which is then locked and sealed over him.
When the millennium period has finished, he will then be released for a
short time. So μετά
ταῦτα again simply indicates the chronological order in
which events will be fulfilled. Even amillennialists
must accept this, as they believe that Satan is bound during the interadventual
period, only to then be released during the tribulation. Again, chronology is indicated.
2.
John is relating a series of
separate but related parts within a particular vision
a.
7:1 ‘And after these things (μετά ταῦτα) I saw four
angels standing on the four corners of the earth, holding the four winds of the
earth, that the wind should not blow on the earth, nor on the sea, nor on any
tree.’
7:9 ‘After
this (μετά ταῦτα) I beheld, and, lo, a great multitude, which
no man could number, of all nations, and kindreds, and people, and tongues,
stood before the throne, and before the Lamb, clothed with white robes, and
palms in their hands;’
These
two verses indicate the change from one part to another separate part within
the context of the same vision of the sixth seal (6:12 – 7:17). Having seen the events associated with the
opening of the sixth seal (6:12-17), John is then shown the sealing of the
144,000 (7:1-8), and then the numberless multitude standing before the throne (7:9-17). So the words μετά
ταῦτα simply indicate this shift from one part of a vision to
another related part, as John was seeing it.
b.
18:1 ‘And after
these things (μετά ταῦτα) I saw another angel come down from
heaven, having great power; and the earth was lightened with his glory.’
19:1 ‘And after these things (μετά ταῦτα) I heard a great voice of much people in heaven, saying,
Alleluia; Salvation, and glory, and honour, and power, unto the Lord our God:’
There is a similar use of μετά
ταῦτα here in 18:1 and 19:1 in the wider context of John’s vision of Babylon
the Great (17:1 – 19:5). After seeing
the vision of the woman riding the Beast (17:1-18), John is then shown a mighty
angel who proclaims Babylon the Great’s fall (18:1-3), hears a similar
proclamation by another voice from heaven (18:4-20), and also sees a mighty
angel throw a massive millstone into the sea (18:21-24). He then hears a roaring proclamation of praise
over God’s judgement of the great prostitute from a great multitude in heaven
(19:1-3). So, again, the words μετά ταῦτα simply indicate this
shift from one part of a vision to another related part, as John was seeing it.
c.
15:5 ‘And after that (μετά ταῦτα) I looked, and,
behold, the temple of the tabernacle of the testimony in heaven was opened:’
The
vision of the seven bowls of wrath takes up the whole of chapters 15 and 16. It begins with John seeing those who had been
victorious over the Beast and his image and the number of his name, standing
beside the sea of glass and fire in heaven, and singing the song of Moses and
the song of the Lamb (15:1-4). As this
vision moves on, John then sees the opening of the temple of the tabernacle in
heaven, and the seven angels with the seven bowls (15:5-8). So, again, the words μετά ταῦτα simply indicate this
shift from one part of a vision to another related part, as John was seeing it.
3. The
use of μετά ταῦτα in 1:19 and 4:1
a.
1:19 ‘Write the things which thou
hast seen, and the things which are, and the things which shall be hereafter (μετά ταῦτα).’
b.
4:1
‘After this (μετά
ταῦτα) I looked, and, behold, a door was opened in heaven: and the first
voice which I heard was as it were of a trumpet talking with me; which said,
Come up hither, and I will shew the things which must be hereafter (μετά ταῦτα).’
So the
phrase μετά ταῦτα is used twice in 4:1.
Those who hold to an Extreme Futurist interpretation of the book
of Revelation believe that the rapture takes place at 4:1. They point out correctly that the letters to
the seven churches are prophetically applicable to the whole of the Church Age. But then they say that, because the Greek
word ἐκκλησία (meaning ‘church’)
only occurs once in Revelation after chapter 3 (in 22:16), then the believing Church
must be absent from the rest of the book.
So they conclude that the end of chapter 3 therefore marks the end of
the Church Age, with the rapture then following in 4:1, symbolically represented
by the door opening in heaven and the call to John to ‘Come up here, and I
will show you what must take place after this.’ According to this viewpoint, the bulk of the
rest of the book of Revelation (i.e. chapters 4-19) is therefore about the seven-year
tribulation period.
So in 4:1, this viewpoint interprets the first occurrence of μετά
ταῦτα (rendered in the AV as ‘after this’) to indicate the
shift from the Church Age to the tribulation period via the rapture. Similarly, it interprets its second
occurrence (rendered in the AV as ‘hereafter’) to refer to what will happen in
the tribulation period after the rapture.
Consistently with this, in
1:19, this viewpoint interprets the words ‘the
things which thou hast seen, and the things which are, and the things which shall
be hereafter’ to refer respectively to:
a.
what
John was seeing in chapter 1 (‘the things which thou hast seen’);
b.
the
Church Age of chapter 2-3 (‘the things which are’), and
c.
the
tribulation period of chapters 4-19 (‘the things which shall be hereafter
[μετά ταῦτα]’).
Apart from the
major fallacy that this viewpoint believes (vis. that only the word ἐκκλησία
can be used to refer to the church or believers, rather than these also being
referred to in several other ways in Revelation), many people have correctly pointed
out the fact that John’s being in heaven ‘in the Spirit’ in 4:2 is not a symbolic
type of the rapture at all. I have given
several reasons for this in chapter 16 of my book Apocalypse Rising.
Furthermore, when considering
the use of μετά ταῦτα
at the end of 4:1, it is hermeneutically
more correct to read and understand chapters 2-3 as the first recipients would
have read and understood them, rather than viewing them primarily in their
secondary meaning as being prophetic of the entire Church Age. The early believers knew that these seven
letters were addressed to specific churches in their own day, so for them the
phrase ‘the
things which must be hereafter’ (μετά
ταῦτα) would be referring to the
first century AD and following. This
then means that what John saw in chapters 4-5 would be referring to the period after
the ascension of Christ (which actually dates back to 33 AD, of course). This then leads to the Moderate Futurist
interpretation which sees chapters 4-7 as referring to the interadventual
period during which Christ is ascended and reigning in heaven, with the rapture
then happening during the time of the sixth seal (as opposed to it happening in
4:1).
This means that we
should understand the use of μετά ταῦτα at the beginning of 4:1 (‘after this’) as
simply indicating a shift from one vision into another, as John was seeing them
(much as we saw in the sections above regarding its uses elsewhere in Revelation).
It also implies that we
should understand the use of μετά ταῦτα in 1:19 in a similar way. Hence:
a.
what John
saw in chapter 1 (‘the things which thou
hast seen’);
b. the seven churches which existed towards the end of
the first century AD (‘the things which are’), and
c. the interadventual period from the ascension of Christ
through to the rapture (chs.4-7), and then into and through the tribulation
period (chs.8-19) (‘the
things which shall be hereafter [μετά ταῦτα]’).
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