Blood Purification and the Temple in Revelation

Abstract

Abstract This article argues that many of Revelation’s ancient Jewish, Greek, and Roman audience members would have recognized a cosmic blood purification ritual at work in chapters 15–16. I contend first that many early audiences would have perceived the cosmos in Revelation as an operational temple (at least in Rev 4–16). I, then, expose similarities between the bowls of wrath and ancient blood purification rituals for sacred space. In the final section of this article, I demonstrate how many ancient audiences would have understood global pollution to be a major problem for Revelation’s narrative and how the blood purification-like ritual of Rev 15–16 resolves it.