This article applies the so-called audience-oriented approach (a literary exegesis which focuses on how the implied audience understands and responds to the narrative on the basis of its presupposed knowledge and what the audience has heard so far in the narrative) to the reading of Revelation 21: 5-8.It will show that this passage, which stands as the last in the series of visions concerning the last judgment and in which God himself is said to have spoken, functions as the fulfillment of the promise made earlier to the faithful ones (to the conquerors in chapters 2 and 3, to the souls under the altar (6: 9-11), to the thirsty (7: 16), etc).At the same time, the pairing of the promise of eternal blessing with the final damnation of the unfaithful helps to heighten the audience's experience of the "not yet" and the "already" here of the new creation.For the audience, infidelity and all sorts of sin remain possible.To be a conqueror or a coward depends on how one responds to God's words in his or her deeds here and now.For after all, everyone is judged based on one's own deeds (20: 12-13). . State of ResearchThe pronouncement in Rev 21: 5 -8, as Leon Morris have pointed out, "is noteworthy as one of the very few occasions in the book of Revelation on which God himself is said to speak." 1 Scholars and commentators to various degrees are aware of the significance of this passage within the book of Revelation.Yet there has not been any study so far which focuses on the text of Rev 21: 5 -8-apart from general treatment in various commentaries on the book of Revelation and a number of articles which treat Rev 21: 5 -8 as a part of a larger section. 2 Among these works a few are worth mentioning here to show how scholars have approached this passage.
Marianus Pale Hera (Wed,) studied this question.