of the beasts and are now rescued and vindicated. This speaks both of the resurrection, ascension and heavenly kingship of Jesus and of the future vindication of the martyrs. Thus, in Revelation 1 (though a few verses later the Son of Man looks like the Ancient of Days as well), Christ’s public vindication is the foundation of the suffering Church’s confidence: ‘the firstborn of the dead’ is in fact ‘the ruler of the kings of the earth’. This is the ground both of hope for the future and of political