People are suffering today.
You try to live like a CEO in Manhattan on 500K! A recent NY Times article estimated the life costs $1.6M or more.
In the real world, the rest of us feel lucky to live, period.
So what does the book of Revelation say to us?
The Bible always urges God’s people to get their hands dirty, make a difference for real hurting people. It promises that always God is with us, God shoulders oiur pain with us, God will see us through.
That’s the message: God cares for you when your world’s coming to an end.
Although it’s fun to teach Revelation, it’s also challenging. As a young pastor, I was daunted by all the visions, monsters and numbers.
But when The Late Great Planet Earth came out, I felt like shouting, “That’s only one viewpoint!” It dates back to a 19th century clergyman named Darby and the 1909 Scofield Reference Bible; it’s
”premillennial dispensationalism”
Of course, nobody’s listening. Late Great sold 40 million copies. Sort of like The Da Vinci Code!
I recommend a fast jet read through Revelation in its entirety in a single setting, if possible.
Why?
You get the big picture. The details are shards of glass, each beautiful and luminous. But it’s the whole window you want to see, not separate pieces.
Here are the big bones of the outline:
- Jesus, the author (ch.1)
- The church on earth, warts and all (ch. 2-3)
- The throne room of heaven, hub of the universe (ch. 4-5)
- Three series of judgments, more and more severe, to bring humanity to repentance (ch. 6-16)
- The fall of the great whore, the godless city, and her allies (ch. 17-20)
- The new Jerusalem, the new heaven and new earth (ch. 21-22)
If you keep in mind where you are as you read, you won’t get disoriented.
The purpose of the book of Revelation is (1) to glorify Christ, the true Lord and Savior—not the Roman emperors who liked those titles, and (2) to comfort and encourage the people of God, who were facing martyrdom, exile, imprisonment, as well as loss of social position and property.
Everybody loves puzzles. But, Revelation is not an end times rubik’s cube. It’s a mystery, always. You can’t ever unravel all its knots, or shine a light into all its shadows.
But it is good to know that—beginning, middle, and end—God cares for you and God wins.
You’ll find a fabulous, reasoned collection of materials on apocalypse by the PBS program Frontline here.
Photo by Mary Fran
I remember reading Late Great as a teenager and feeling like the sky was surely about to open and the “end” to come. What a manipulative book! I took a great class about Revelation in seminary that presented many perspectives, which I appreciated.
It’s so hard for us to understand, unless we’re educated to it, that much of comprehending the Bible depends on context and, dare I say it, imagination. We’re too literal-minded these days, with our scientific, Power-point oriented way of thinking. That’s not a helpful lens for interpreting Revelation.