The strange Book of Revelation, written in about 95 AD, opens up a world in which Christian people were under threat from the Roman Empire; some were suffering for their faith. Was it easier to fall in with the ways of the empire in all its wealth and prosperity, as well as cruelty, than to hold fast in their faith? The prophet John records a vision of the risen Jesus which opens up for him God’s perspective on the Christian assemblies and on the empire. Written in the sort of poetic literature sometimes called “apocalyptic,” John conveys his message encouraging the Christians to stay strong in their witness, while at the same time opening up the demonic realities behind the workings of totalitarian empire and looking towards God’s ultimate victory over all that is evil, in the establishment of God’s kingdom. Today we are subject to the allurements of many different sorts of godless “empires,” tempting us to put other gods in the place of Jesus Christ. Can Revelation encourage us in our struggles and our witness in our very different world?

This work affirms the centrality of Jesus and His coming work of retribution and reward as the keys to understanding Revelation.

“The testimony of Jesus is the spirit of prophecy” (Rev 19:10) and a prophetic perspective promotes purpose. Yet in a world swiftly growing callous, true purpose and meaning are fading. Many of Jesus’ disciples today have “lost their first love,” which is Jesus himself (Rev 2:4). And too many souls overall miss the wonder, inspiration, and comfort gained by those who would endeavor toward fuller comprehension of the book of Revelation: “Blessed are they who read and those who hear the words of this prophecy, and keep those things which are written in it; for the time is near” (Rev 1:3). Neglect of the Holy Spirit, slothfulness, fear, and the ongoing confusion generated by competing interpretations and bad theology are the primary obstacles between an individual and the liberation to be had by reading the last book of the Bible. We must not forget that while the apostle John wrote the book of Revelation, its author is Jesus Christ, and he is not an author of confusion but of peace (1 Cor 14:33). This commentary presents a practical, discipleship-based perspective toward following Jesus into the very heart of his Revelation. So as the end of this clamorous age approaches, may we truly hear what the Spirit is saying to the churches!

That the Apocalypse of John is a “Revelation of Jesus Christ” (Rev 1:1) is a fact too often overlooked by interpreters of this last book of the Bible. As Msgr. A. Robert Nusca’s The Christ of the Apocalypse: Contemplating the Faces of Jesus in the Book of Revelation proposes, beyond predictions of earthquakes and falling stars, St. John articulates from start to finish a multifaceted and compelling portrait of Jesus Christ. Nusca offers an exegetical reading of selected verses of the Book of Revelation, incorporating rich spiritual and pastoral reflections. The Christ of the Apocalypse above all affirms that St. John’s God- and Christ-centered, symbolic universe offers our contemporary world a spiritual place to stand amid the shifting sands of postmodernity. As Cardinal Thomas Collins, Archbishop of Toronto, writes in his Foreword, “Now, as in the first century, Christians face martyrdom, and those who are not called to die for Christ are called to live for Christ in a world which in many ways rejects the Gospel. More than ever, we need the apocalyptic vision, to have our own vision of reality clarified, and to be strengthened in our evangelical witness.”

This collection of essays argues that Paul's articulation of Christ and his saving work makes use of the categories and perspectives of ancient Jewish apocalyptic eschatology. Such eschatology is concerned with the expectation that God will finally and irrevocably put an end to the present order of reality ("this age") and replace it with a new, transformed order of reality ("the age to come"). In Paul's view, God has initiated this eschatological act of cosmic rectification in the person and work of Christ. The essays included, two of them previously unpublished, investigate and illuminate various aspects of Paul's christologically focused appropriation of ancient Jewish apocalyptic eschatology, particularly in his letters to the Galatians and the Romans. The collection begins with the author's seminal essay on the two tracks of Jewish apocalyptic eschatology (forensic and cosmological) from 1989 and ends with an essay from 2016 containing the author's retrospective restatement and elaboration of his views.