Revelation 19, 20: An Imperial Triumphal Parade
Two years ago, as I was enjoying an intensive week of classes and student gatherings at Portland Seminary, a young professor named Shane Wood gave a guest lecture on what he called “An Alter-Imperial Interpretation of Revelation 20:7-10,” from his book “The Alter-Imperial Paradigm.”
Below is the summary of his fascinating perspective.
Why Must Satan Be Released?
Why was it necessary for God to release Satan from his bastille? Satan had been conquered, Satan’s allies vanquished, even the beast and its false prophet had been summarily done away with. Christ was the clear victor, God’s beloved people finally safe. Why not just throw away the key?
Even more compellingly, John’s Apocalypse is richly interwoven with scriptural references and imagery. But nowhere else in the Bible is there even a hint concerning the binding or the release of Satan, nor is there anything equivalent in the Roman culture and mythology of John’s time. This scene has no context.
Or does it?
At the beginning of Revelation 20, Satan is arrested in heavy shackles and chain, then confined to the abyss. When he is unloosed a thousand years later, his iron fetters remain. Satan is also released by God’s express command. God has a purpose for Satan, and Satan is still very much God’s captive, in God’s control.
So what purpose might God have for Satan?
Imperial Ideology
The answer is rooted in how the creed and philosophy of the Roman empire was communicated: through its imagery and its pageantry. Coins depicted the emperors as gods and the empire as wealthy and powerful. Statuary evoking stories of valor and victory were everywhere, and every public space had altars to the gods of Rome. Festivals occurring throughout the year, rituals, ceremonies, and processions all underscored Pax Romana.
And chief among Rome’s processions was the emperors’ triumphal marches.
Triumphal Procession
Whenever a battle was one, the victor would prepare a lavish procession to celebrate Rome’s dominance and the subjugation of Rome’s defeated foe, thanks to the favor of Rome’s gods. Wood’s description of these parades began with the excited throngs dressed in white, lining the thoroughfare. First would come the display of Rome’s plunder, “foreign weaponry, exotic plants and animals, royal furniture, and brilliant treasures” (The Alter-Imperial Paradigm, 200). Every so often, there would be a list of the lands that had been conquered. Soldiers would be carrying placards giving their military statistics, while others would be holding up vivid depictions of key battle scenes. Even more dramatic would be the procession of the conquered soldiers and their military leaders, staggering in their ankle chains and iron collars.
The effect was to sweep the crowds vicariously into the throes and fray of the emperor’s success, as Josephus remarked of Flavian’s triumphal march over the Jews in 71 CE, it was “as if [the onlookers] had been there really present” (The Alter-Imperial Paradigm, 201).
These processions were lavish, with wrought silver scenes of the conquered lands, golden trophies glinting in the sun, and foreign captives richly appointed in their native attire. At times, the procession would halt, and Roman guards would force their subdued foe to re-enact the scenes of their defeat, to the roaring cheers of onlookers.
But the spectacle’s sensational peak came at the end, when the emperor would appear in his golden chariot, drawn by four powerful white steeds, arrayed in a white tunic overhung with a sumptuously dyed toga of royal purple, threaded through with gold, and a golden diadem upon his head. The emperor’s family might ride with him in his chariot, or ride close to him, each on their own white horse.
And before the emperor’s chariot would plod the conquered enemy king (or queen), bound in chains.
Sometimes it would take up to a year or more to prepare all the parts of such a lavish display. All during that time, the enemy king would remain in prison, awaiting the day of the victor’s triumphal parade.
Jesus on a White Horse
In the Flavian triumphal procession of 71 CE, forever immortalized on the Arch of Titus, Vespasian, the new emperor, rode in his golden chariot with his son Titus by his side. But Domitian, Vespasian’s younger son, rode ahead of his father on his own white horse.
That imagery can be seen in Jesus riding triumphantly on his white horse, ahead of the throne of God the Father, dressed in white that has been dipped in the crimson of Christ’s blood, emblem of Jesus’s victory, won at the cross.
Ahead of Jesus has come the placards of his great victory, scenes of the incalculable power of his word, and of the cosmic breadth of his triumph in death and resurrection. “Gog and Magog” are named, and peoples as numerous as the sands of the sea.
Seeing Domitian riding ahead signaled to the crowd that the best of the procession was just about to appear. So too with Jesus, soon the cheering multitude would see their terrifying enemy subjugated at the hands of their powerful king.
Satan, forced to march ahead of God the Father, and God the Son arrayed in glory. At intervals, God’s conquered captive is made to re-enact his deception of the peoples of earth, of the disastrous battle he lured them into fighting, and of the massive and decisive defeat they suffered, along with him.
Imperial Execution
Imagine this great crowd of witnesses, dressed in white, now following behind the emperor’s chariot as the procession makes its way up the palisade to the Colosseum.
For the pageant’s final extravagance will be the execution of all those not destined for enslavement, and most importantly, of the defeated foreign monarch. In this way, homage is paid to Rome’s gods, who brought about victory, and honor is paid to the emperor who successfully led Rome once again in world dominance.
And so God is now portrayed as leading Satan by his chain to the place of his final destination for all eternity. His crimes have been on public display, over and ever again, repeatedly performing them at regular intervals for each new section of the crowd. The entire population has become witness to God’s justice. And now, all creation will witness the Satan’s execution.
