Revelation – Apocalyptic literature is in the bible, but that is not all there is.  For some, bible reading is all about end times and signs of the end.  Tune the AM radio dial for a minute and you will likely find some preacher shouting out verses from the book of Revelation.  Be fearful.  Be ready.  The world is about to end.  He will point to news about wars and tsunamis. He will know the modern mark of the beast.  Conspiracy abounds; first it’s a new world currency then it is a proposed superhighway from Mexico to Canada.  He knows the real antichrist, first Gorbachev then Bin Laden.  There have been plenty of end time predictors since Christ; none have been correct.  So what are we to make of the book?

According to the Baker Commentary on the Bible, ‘Apocalyptic is visionary, highly symbolic…written to comfort, encourage , strengthen, quiet doubts, and show God to be the ultimate victor over evil…The book of Revelation touches upon most aspects of early Christian thought…John makes reference to God, Christ, the work of Christ, the Holy Spirit, the second coming, the final judgment, heaven, hell, angels, creation, mankind, sin, Satan, demons, history, prayer, worship, Christian living, the church, prophesy, the Bible, perseverance, saints, and the profound mystery of God’s eternity and its relation to time.’

What we might say about the whole bible, we can say here too. 

Baker Commentary:  ‘Central to the book is the existence, power, sovereignty, justice, wisdom, and goodness of God.  God is….He is the almighty and he is in control of the universe….God is also good.  He made the earth for his glory and in the end restores it to its former glory, indeed, to a glory it never dreamed of having.  God’s goodness extends to the believers in guiding and protecting them from eternal harm and to evildoers in calling them to repentance.’

What does Revelation mean? 

Dennis Bratcher in his article ‘Interpreting the Book of Revelation,’ ‘A text cannot mean what it never could have meant to its original authors or hearers.’

Bratcher:  ‘There are several distinct features of apocalyptic writing:

-It arises out of historical context of great turmoil, persecution, and oppression.

-It is carefully crafted literature.

-It is presented in the form of visions, dreams, and other worldly journeys.

-Its images and symbols are form of fantasy rather than reality, and its language is cryptic, metaphorical, and highly symbolic.’

The author of Revelations knew his Hebrew Scriptures inside and out.  There are hundreds of references to Old Testament scripture in the book.

Bratcher provides a couple of hints for when we read Revelation.  ‘The rich and varied cultural context of the ancient world must be the frame of reference for interpreting the names and symbols of the book, but also with a sensitivity to how creatively they are used in the book.  The visions and symbols should not be pressed into allegory in which every detail has some meaning:  most often the meaning is in the entire vision and its impact rather than every detail.’

‘Blessed is the one who reads aloud the words of the prophecy, and blessed are those who hear and who keep what is written in it; for the time is near.  John to the seven churches that are in Asia…To him who loves us and freed us from our sins by his blood, and made us to be a kingdom of priests serving his God and Father, to him be glory and dominion forever and ever…Look, his is coming with the clouds; and every eye will see him…So it is to be.  Amen. Revelation 1:3-7

John had visions and was commissioned to write about them.  He saw the very throne of God.

“When I saw him, I fell at his feet as though dead.  But he placed his right hand on me, saying, ‘Do not be afraid; I am the first and the last, and the living one.  I was dead, and see, I am alive, forever and ever, and I have the keys of Death and of Hades.’  Revelation 1:17-18

‘The seven lampstands are the seven churches.’  Revelation 1:20

John then had a word to each of the churches.  Sometimes he was encouraging and sometimes he was correcting. 

‘To the church in Ephesus…I know that you are enduring patiently and bearing up for the sake of my name…But I have this against you, that you have abandoned the love you had at first….I will come and remove your lampstand from its place unless you repent….To everyone who conquers, I will give permission to eat from the tree of life that is in the paradise of God.  Revelation 2:3-7

‘To the church in Laodicea…I know your works; you are neither cold nor hot.  I wish that you were either cold or hot.  So, because you are lukewarm, and neither cold nor hot, I am about to spit you out of my mouth.’  Revelation 3:14-16

‘Listen! I am standing at the door; if you hear my voice and open the door, I will come in and eat with you, and you with me….let anyone who has an ear listen to what the Spirit is saying to the churches.’  Revelation 3; 20, 22

Chapters 4-22 describe John’s vision in very graphic imagery.  There are beasts, horseman, and all kinds of other exotic creatures.

Richard and Julia Wilke in their Disciple handbook write about the meaning of these visions that the churches in Asia who were under intense persecution from Rome would have gleaned from the writing:

‘Trouble is coming.  Be sure which side you are one.  The four horseman-conquest, war famine, and death- are coming….You are either in or out, washed in the blood of the Lamb or doomed, wearing either the mark of the Lamb or the mark of the beast.

Fallen, fallen is Babylon the great! (18:2)…Stand firm.  The day will soon come when the Roman Empire, awful whore, slayer of God’s people, will be gone from the face of the earth.

Evil will be destroyed once and for all.  Christ is married to his bride, his holy people (Revelation 19:7).  Satan first will be bound (20:2) and then finally thrown into a lake of fire. (20:10) Even death itself shall die (2-:14) and God will bring a new heaven and a new earth.’

‘And the four living creatures, each of them with six wings, are full of eyes all around, and inside.  Day and night without ceasing they sing,

Holy, holy, holy,

The Lord God Almighty,

Who was and is and is to come.’  Revelation 4:8

Scrolls, horses, sadness and devastation.

‘And out come another horse, bright red; its rider was permitted to take peace from the earth, so that people would slaughter one another.’  Revelation 6:4

Dragons and angels.

‘And war broke out in heaven; Michael and his angels fought against the dragon. ‘Revelation 12:7

Rome is going down.  ‘Fallen, fallen is Babylon the great!  Revelation 14:7

‘After this, I heard what seemed to be the loud voice of a great multitude in heaven, saying,

‘Hallelujah!

Salvation and glory and power to our God,

For his judgments are true and just.’  Revelation 19:1-2

‘Then I saw the thrones, and those seated on them were given authority to judge, I also saw the souls of those who had been beheaded for their testimony to Jesus and for the word of God.  They had not worshipped the beast or its image and had not received its mark on their foreheads or their hands.  They came to life and reigned with Christ a thousand years.’  Revelation 20:4

‘Then I saw a new heaven and a new earth…He will dwell with them; they will be his peoples…he will wipe every tear from their eyes.  Death will be no more; mourning and crying and pain will be no more, for the first things have passed away.’

Revelation 21:1, 3-4

‘See, I am coming soon, my reward is with me, to repay according to everyone’s work.  I am the Alpha and the Omega, the first and the last, the beginning and the end….Let everyone who is thirsty come.  Let anyone who wishes take the water of life as a gift….Amen.  Come, Lord Jesus!  Revelation 22:12, 17, 20

There are lots of approaches to interpreting the book of Revelation, none of them sufficient in themselves.  There are lots of concepts in the bible on which we might dwell other than God; Satan, angels, demons, end times, or the second coming of Christ as examples.  We will not be rewarded by dismissing or placing too much emphasis on any one of these. 

Baker Commentary:  ‘This is perhaps a good note on which to end, for all the views agree that when historical time ends, we shall be forever with the Lord.  With that ultimate prospect before us, let us be content.’

 This concludes my posts of the bible in one year.  Happy faith trails!