Rev Gav

In what way was John’s revelation radical?

The Book of Revelation was written some time between AD40 and AD117 when the church, being horribly persecuted by the Roman Empire, was in crisis.

Because they refused to bow down to the cult of Caesar, Christians were being put to death routinely and in the most awful and hideous ways. It was in the midst of this extreme adversity that this book was born, offering a spiritual picture of how things were in the present, and a hope for how things would be in the future — at the end of all time.

The Book of Revelation is  written in a style of writing that does not exist today, a style full of rich metaphor and bizarre symbolism called ‘apocalyptic’ writing. It was a way of revealing spiritual truths through storytelling and poetry — a supernatural unveiling of things that were to take place and how it all ends.

Apocalyptic writing was prevalent over a three hundred year period, from 100 BC to 200 AD, and it is a style with blurry edges and overlaps with other kinds of writing but pretty much all apocalyptic writing has the same set of features: a divine disclosure, a celestial intermediary, God’s intervention in human history, the dualistic battle of cosmic forces, and the final destruction of all wickedness. The author is also attributed to a well-known character of the past, and in this case the authorship is attributed to John, presumably the Apostle.

Yes, Revelation depicts the future and how it all ends, but it was also very much rooted in the culture in which it was written. For example, John saw the Roman Empire as the great beast that threatened the extinction of the church and the provincial priesthood who enforced the imperial cult as the false prophet.

Revelation was therefore both now AND not yet, and it is not a literal, historical blueprint for how things will happen, but its enduring popularity in Christianity is that it speaks to both the present and the future. The Book of Revelation is directly applicable in the here and now to whomever reads it.

What is ‘the great tribulation’ to which we and the world currently endures?

Back in Verse 4 John described seeing those, who from God’s perspective are marked with the seal as being God’s people, and here we have John describing them from a human perspective as a multitude that no-one could count.

The white robes they wear symbolise the victory of their faith based on the sanctification by Christ and the palm branches they wave echo Jesus’ triumphant entry into Jerusalem.

In our culture we think of ‘heaven’ as a place — a noun — but it is also a context — an adjective. John is describing what heaven is, and there is no narrow-nationalism in heaven! Heaven is a place where there are no barriers to welcome and acceptance — where every gender, sexuality, age, race, nation, and rank are welcome. Heaven is a place where Christ has broken down all the walls that divide us as human beings.

When John penned this ‘revelation’, the church was a small, persecuted minority with pockets of believers scattered throughout the Roman empire. It was also a patriarchal society where women were excluded, slaves were owned, and people were discriminated against based on their nationality or allegiance. Wow. Imagine penning a book that described a multitude that no-one could count where all were included? John’s revelation was not just prophetic but radically progressive!

There is no doubt, and most Bible scholars concur, that the biblical revelation is progressive in nature. The story of Eden, albeit a metaphor, begins with two people — a man and a woman of one nation, tribe, people, and language — and here in Revelation, the new Eden is filled with a countless multitude from every nation, tribe, people, and language.

So what is the faith lesson for us?

We, the church, are called to reflect heaven in the present. It is why we pray, “Your kingdom come, your will be done, on earth as it is in heaven.” We are called to research what heaven is like, not just as a noun but as an adjective and emulate heaven in the here and now, and by modelling on earth our heavenly destination we move closer towards heaven and earth once again fully overlapping.

The British Anglican priest and evangelical theologian John Stott wrote, “a homogeneous church is a defective church, which must work pertinently and perseveringly towards heterogeneity.” He liked to use big words, but he was right. Our churches should reflect the diversity of demographics of the communities in which we live.

You live on the cutting edge of God’s ongoing revelation to the world — and as you learn more and more about who God is  —  your Christianity is, by very nature progressive. It is more embracing of others and the net is being cast wider. We are moving towards inclusion and away from exclusion and this is the biblical narrative.

One day, everything in heaven and on earth will praise God. The angels of Revelation representing heaven, the elders of Revelation representing humanity, and the four living creatures of Revelation representing the earth. They will sing:

“Amen! Praise and glory,
and wisdom and thanksgiving,
and honor and power and strength
be to our God for ever and ever. Amen!”

But it doesn’t end there. John concludes this part of his narrative painting a picture of how things will be for this great multitude that no-one can count:

“They stand before the throne of God
worshipping day and night in God’s temple;
and the One who sits on the throne will shelter them.
Never again will they hunger
and never again will they thirst.
The sun will not beat down on them,
nor any scorching heat.
For the Lamb at the centre of the throne
will be their shepherd.
They will be led to springs of living water,
and God will wipe away every tear from their eyes.”

Amen.