REVELATIONS ON REVELATION: PART I

There is no book in the Bible that has been more abused, misused and confused than the last one, the Book of Revelation.

When it comes to Revelation, there seem to be two extremes. On one hand there are those who hardly read, preach or teach from any other book—convinced that it’s kind of a crystal ball in which to see the future, if you know how to look, and they think they know how. Thus we find an endless stream of books and even movies—from Hal Lindsay’s The Late Great Planet Earth to the “Left Behind Series”—very popular fictional novels based on a particular interpretation of Revelation. Note that: a particular interpretation of Revelation.

On the opposite extreme are those who’ve given up completely on Revelation. They ignore it; they seldom if ever read or teach or preach from it. For them, it’s irrelevant, impossible to understand, a book that’s more trouble than it’s worth. They had just as soon it had never been made a part of the Bible. There are a number of persons throughout history who have felt the same way. The great reformer John Calvin, my favorite historical theologian, ignored it completely. It was the only book in the New Testament about which he never wrote anything (and, believe me, he wrote a lot).

I think most people are somewhere between these two extremes. We don’t feel obsessed with the book of Revelation nor would we ignore it altogether. We’re the “Huh?” people. We find it a mysterious, difficult-to-understand book—but it’s in the Bible, so we think it must have some value, some message for us. This is where I’ve found myself over the years and so I’ve done quite a bit of study on Revelation and other apocalyptic literature.

I also grew weary of leaving this book to persons who I don’t think really understand it at all and use it in ways it was never intended.

I’ve learned a few things that I would like to share with you in a series of posts. Over the centuries this mysterious book has, in fact, been of great comfort and help to millions of Christians, and I am convinced that it can be for us as well, that it has great relevance for our time, though not in the way it’s often portrayed in so many popular books and movies.

The first revelation on Revelation that I’d suggest to you is to read it for yourself. Don’t depend on TV preachers, best-selling writers or even me to do your thinking for you, especially without knowing what’s in it for yourself. It’s too bad that many Christians skip the book itself, replacing it with other books that claim to explain it. Without having first-hand knowledge of the book itself from having read it, then we don’t know if these books about it are accurate or make any sense. Maybe you aren’t biblical scholars, but you can read and think for yourselves. Don’t let others do the thinking for you. I fear that many persons who read such books as the “Left Behind” series have never read Revelation itself and so swallow hook, line and sinker what books like this say. I’m not saying at all that’s it bad to read other books, I’m just saying read the book of Revelation first!

Let me recommend that you do this—begin reading it. Get a solid modern translation like the New Revised Standard Version (please DON’T use the King James Version). Focus on the text itself. Or, if you wish a more modern, easy to read translation, use the Common English Bible or the Good News Bible. They both give a fresh rendering in today’s English. But the vital thing is to read the Book of Revelation itself.

There’s an even better way to do this. I’d recommend to you another book that I think is one of the best out there. It was written for non-scholars by Bruce Metzger and it’s entitled, Breaking the Code: Understanding the Book of Revelation. Then read portions of Revelation as Metzger covers them, reflect on what you read in the text itself, and then read what Metzger has to say about each section or chapter. Then re-read Revelation in light of Metzger’s insights. If you do this, the book of Revelation will begin to make more sense.

The second revelation on Revelation that I’ve discovered is that no one can rightly claim to fully understand all of it. Beware of anyone who claims otherwise!

Take a couple of examples. We’re told that the writer is named John; but which John? There are four “Johns” named in the Bible. Is it one of them or some other about whom we don’t know? The name “John” was very common in the first century, just as it is today. Tradition says it was John the Apostle of Jesus, the son of Zebedee. But nowhere is that stated and most scholars don’t think it was he. So, we don’t know for certain the identity of the author. He assumes that his readers know who he is. Besides, not knowing who he was does not keep us from getting a good deal of understanding of what he wrote.

The other example is the reference to “the seven spirits before the throne” in verse 4. Just about every commentary I’ve read has a different take on this. We can make some educated guesses. Are they angels? Is this a reference to the Holy Spirit? Is he talking about the pastors or key leaders of the seven churches to whom he writes? We can’t be certain. Revelation uses so many such references, symbols and numbers like this for which no one can say, “Oh, I know for sure what they all mean!”

So we all need to approach Revelation with humility, realizing that we know only in part.

The third revelation on Revelation has to do with why we really don’t understand all of Revelation or at least why we find it such a challenge to understand.

Most people today are familiar with—even if they don’t read it—the literary style called “science fiction.” Take “Star Wars,” for example. It’s about other planets, weird aliens from all over the galaxy, star ships, light sabers and Jedi Knights. These are not foreign to us because this style of writing has been a part of our culture for some time.

Now, let me ask you, if John or anyone in his day—the first century—came across a copy of “Star Wars,” do you think they would understand it? Not likely. Why? Because it’s not a kind of literary style of which they have ever seen. It would be as confusing and mysterious to them as the Book of Revelation is for us!

John was writing in a literary style that had been popular for several centuries. He understood it. His readers were familiar with it. It’s called “apocalyptic literature,” which flourished from about 200 B.C. to A.D. 100. Even the Greek title for this book is αποκαλυψις (The Apocalypse), meaning the unveiling, the uncovering of what God is doing and is about to do. John expected the things of which he wrote to happen very soon, that is, most likely within his lifetime and that of the persons to whom he was writing. This poses significant questions for those with their pull out time charts showing how Revelation was and is to be fulfilled over the last two thousand years! John didn’t have the distant future in mind. He was focused very much on his own time—as we will see. He had good reason to do so, for they were dark and desperate times. This isn’t to say that his words and visions have nothing to say to us. They do, and I hope to discover this with you, but we will find its meaning isn’t what it has so often been portrayed to be.

Anyway, the point for right now is that John is writing in a style that he and his readers were very familiar with. In fact, this style is found especially in the Old Testament books of Ezekiel and Daniel. Indeed, there are 404 verses in the 22 chapters of Revelation; 278 of those verses contain one or more allusions or even quotes from these two Old Testament books! John was steeped in this style of writing.

Apocalyptic literature uses highly symbolic language, which we can’t take literally or we will never understand it. Take for example, his use of numbers like 7, which he uses all the time—7 churches, 7 spirits, 7 seals, 7 angels, 7 trumpets, 7 bowls, etc. For John 7 was a holy, sacred number. Whenever you read it in Revelation, think of completeness, perfection, something holy and good. Likewise, the number 6 is an evil number (you know, the famous “666”) and I’ll talk more about that later. Suffice it to say that this isn’t so different than what we do when we have lucky numbers—like 7—and unlucky ones like 13.

Here’s another example. In Chapter 13, John talks about a “beast.” He describes it like a leopard with feet like a bear and a mouth like a lion. Elsewhere he speaks of a beast with many horns and eyes. These are terrifying descriptions. But they are symbolic. He’s talking about nations—mostly evil nations—especially Rome, which was acting every bit like a horrible beast to him and the early Christians to whom he’s writing. But this, too, isn’t so different from what we do today in comparing nations to animals. America is represented by what? An eagle. Russia? A bear. England? A lion and so forth. Why, even the major political parties are represented by animals—an elephant for the Republicans and a donkey for the Democrats!

So we know that John and his readers are using symbolic language. This is why it’s sometimes difficult for us to understand—we simply don’t know in all cases what he meant or intended. Yet we can understand the essential message he’s seeking to convey.

Let’s go back to “Star Wars.” John and his readers could understand some things about “Star Wars.” It’s a story of a galactic battle between the forces of evil and good. The evil is represented by the emperor and his general, Darth Vader, and their storm troopers, who are seeking to brutally conquer everyone. The good side is represented by Luke Skywalker, who is a messianic figure. Luke unites the Jedi Knights and others to do battle against the evil empire. There is a great battle and evil is defeated.

John and his readers would have understood this. Indeed, one of the themes in apocalyptic literature is a great cosmic struggle between the forces of good and evil. For them, the evil is Satan or the devil who is personified in another emperor, the head of the Roman Empire, along with his many generals and their own storm troopers, Roman legions stationed all over the empire. Together they were oppressing and persecuting Christians. The good side is represented by the Messiah, who is gathering his own Jedi Knights—angels. These two will clash and evil will be defeated. Rome will fall. Christ and his followers will be victorious in the end. It seems to me, in fact, that literature like “Star Wars” is really a kind-of modern version of apocalyptic literature with much the same themes, just using different language and symbols.

In conclusion, remember three things: First, start reading the text itself. Refer to Metzger’s book as you read. Second, don’t get discouraged when you come across things you just don’t understand. Even the most learned scholars can’t say they understand everything. Third, keep in mind this is a style of writing that uses highly symbolic language. John has specific persons and things in mind for everything he writes. So think symbolically as you read the text and Metzger will really help you do this, so I strongly urge you to get Metzger’s book.

In my next post, I’ll share some more “revelations on Revelation,” specifically, how important it is to ask this question: “What did it mean?” What was John trying to say in his own time? Only when we have understood something of what it meant can we rightly go on explore what it means for us.