Revelation Manuscripts

The book of Revelation is one of my favorite books in the Bible. There are so many interesting Old Testament allusions and first century references. Revelation has a robust Christology that intertextually displays the gospel on a doxological platform. Revelation demonstrates biblical intertextuality (i.e. harmony, unity, diversity of Scripture) because the author uses the stories of the Old Testament and New Testament effectively, yet enhances them with symbols and allusions in order to display a vivid picture of the worthy Lamb of God, Jesus Christ.

Today, we have only 313 manuscripts of Revelation currently discovered and documented (figure 1.1 is p98, showing Rev. 1:12-2:1). Some of the earliest manuscripts are only fragments of papyrus, which give us very little evidence to be absolutely conclusive on textual variations throughout the book. Nevertheless, we have enough to have a completed canonical book that clearly transmits a unified and harmonious text. It is this text, Revelation, that is at the end of every Holy Bible. We should never disregard this text for our spiritual growth, but instead read it because it teaches us how to worship and live unashamed for Jesus Christ!