tonyq:
Yes, but I was focussing in on:
16 And he hath on his vesture and on his thigh a name written, KING OF KINGS, AND LORD OF LORDS.”
According to the Jewish site, such a tattoo or marking on the thigh would not be allowed.
No tattoos are involved though - the name, is on the scabbard of the sword - not on his body: although there is absolutely no reason why we shouldn’t see a reference to the marks of the Passion here.
As the passage is about judgement, we should probably also bear in mind that Ezekiel 9.4 speaks of those who are marked with the letter Tau, so that they may be preserved from the judgement of JHWH upon Jerusalem - the author of Revelation is fond of that book: the doom declared upon Babylon the Great draws upon oracles against Tyre in Ezekiel and Isaiah.
Jesus has marks in the flesh in John 20 - the marks of the Passion. If there is a reference to the Passion in Rev. 19, that would be another piece of evidence, one of several, that the author of Revelation was familiar with John’s Gospel, and that he is drawing on ideas in it. The redeemed are also marked - just as the followers of the beast are marked, in a blasphemous parody of the marks upon Christ
One of the features of Revelation is its use of parody for theological purposes: for example, in chapter 12, there is the angel Michael, whose name means, “Who is like God ?”; in chapter 13, the followers of one of the beasts say “Who is like the beast ?”. The woman in 17 is a parody of the woman in 12. The beast that had a deadly wound that was healed in 13, is a parody of Christ Crucified, dead, and Raised. And so here: Christ is marked; which means His servants are, to show they belong to Him - and so are his enemies: the beast has marked them for destruction; which is why this battle takes place.
One of the features of Jesus, is that what He is, and what He does, and says, is a stumbling for some, so that they don’t accept Him; while others, receive Him as the Messiah. The same Jesus, has opposite effects. The reason for this, is that those who receive Him, are in on the secret, the mystery, of Who He is: and this is entirely because God has so chosen.
One of the results of this, is that to those not admitted to the knowledge of this mystery, Jesus is a law-breaker, a blasphemer, and a deceiver - He does things which are against the law as they understand it, so they reject Him as a sinner. Those who, like Peter, have received the revelation of Who He is from the Father, see what Jesus does in a different way: as fulfilling the Law, not as breaking it. And that is how the name of Jesus in this passage is to be seen: IOW, these marks on the flesh are not a breaking of the Law; they are saving marks - they look as though they are against the Law, only if one does not know Who Jesus is. The irony is, that it was those who rejected Him, who were responsible for the marks in the flesh which He bears in this passage. And this sort of irony is found in many places in John’s gospel. ##
