Yesterday evening, Mackintosh began a series on the Book of Revelation. Unfortunately I disagreed with virtually every point of the preacher’s interpretation of Revelation (pretribulation premillenial dispensationalism, to get technical about it). Which isn’t terribly surprising given how controversial a book it is, or necessarily anything bad. What did bother me though was that we were just told this timeline of End Time events (the Rapture leading into the seven year Great Tribulation and so on – just like those awful Left Behind books, which are the The Da Vinci Code of Christian literature) rather than having it explained to us from scripture, which I think you’d be rather hard-pressed to do.
I wouldn’t have minded a well-argued exegesis of scripture which I disagreed with, but the sermon wasn’t that, and I was a bit disappointed with it. When the preacher was talking about the implications of the second coming for us – urgency in evangelism, making sure we’re prepared and so on, he was fine, but I’d have much preferred it if he’d talked about that rather than trying to construct a rather dubious timeline of events at the end of the world. There wasn’t any argument made for his interpretive framework other than “This is what I think is right”.
It seems to me that among many Christians, especially those in America, there is a folk-mythology of the End Times. It’s a power story and drama, and some superficial proof-texting can seem to support it. But coming to the Bible without these preconceptions, I find it hard to see where many of the ideas dear to the likes of the Left Behind books can be found. For example, I don’t see any grounds for seperating “the Rapture” – believers being taken to be with Christ – from the rest of the Second Coming. It’s something that can be read into the text if you’re looking for it, but isn’t there if you try and faithfully understand it.
Another problem is that many people misunderstand the genre that the book of Revelation is written in, that of apocalyptic literature. Tim LaHay and Jerry Jenkins, writers of the Left Behind books, proudly claim that their view, “is the most literal interpretation of passages from Daniel and Revelation”, with the implication that it is therefore the best interpretation. This betrays a deep misunderstanding of the genre. Apocalyptic literature isn’t supposed to be taken literally, any more than poetry. Literal interpretations of Revelation are as mistaken as interpreting Psalm 18 as meaning that God is literally a rock, shield and horn, and so must be shapeshift into these physical objects! Since apocalyptic has fallen out of fashion as a genre (though stylistic elements still remain in our culture – The Lord of the Rings films, for example), it’s rather more understandable that people make this mistake, but still just as mistaken.
Well, rather than just gripe about what someone else has said about Revelation, I’ll start reposting my notes from studying Revelation which I sent to the ContagiousReunion mailing list. Contagious is the Christian youth conference I go on each year (it’s really great! If you’re in your teens, come along – great fun and great Bible teaching. But be warned, it is not a holiday – it is a Bible boot camp!). In 2003, we looked at the Book of Revelation and afterwards I started going back over the book chapter-by-chapter myself, and typed up my notes and sent them to the mailing list for other Contagiousites to read and comment on.
Here are my notes on Revelation Chapter One:
What Revelation tells us about itself:
- v1-2. This is God’s word! It’s been sent down to us through God, Jesus, the angel, John and now to us. We can trust this!
- v3 The book of Revelation is supposed to bless us, not befuddle us. We need to read, hear and obey. It’s not a mere puzzle-box, but teaching that is supposed to change our lives.
What it tells us about God:
- He is the beginning and end, exists in the past, present and future. God is eternal! (v4,8)
Jesus is the “faithful witness” – he shows us what the Father is like; “the firstborn from the dead” – he came back to life, as will we his followers; “the ruler of the kings of the earth” – he is ruling and in control now! - v12-20. Ahh! Into the strange imagery. So, who is this person “like a son of man”? This refers back to Daniel 7 and the one appointed by the Ancient of Days to have an everlasting dominion over all peoples. Jesus’ description here in Revelation matches that in Daniel describing the Ancient of Days. The description in v17 relates to v4 and 8, showing that he is God, and v18 clearly refers to Jesus’ death and resurrection.
- v17 – Jesus has conquered death and is ruler over it!
- Thankfully, v20 explains some of the imagery for us. Jesus is working in his church and looks after it – has it in the palm of his hand, so to speak.
- So, let’s go through some of the imagery. White hair and head – shows purity and victory. Robe, golden sash – royalty, kingship. Sword from mouth – his word is powerful (see also Hebrews 4:12). And other stuff, basically showing Jesus’ power, authority, purity and awesomeness.
- But he says “Do not be afraid”! (v17) – mighty God cares for us. Amazing.
What it tells us about the Christian life:
- v5 – Jesus loves us, has freed us by his blood, has made us to be a kingdom and priests to serve God. So being in his Kingdom, we must obey our King, and we have all the benefits and priviledges of being in the kingdom of God. We are priests – we can come to God. it also means that we are to bring others to God, be the means of communication – a call to evangelize.
- – v9 – “…the suffering and kingdom and patient endurance that are ours in Jesus…” So three important things to remember that we have (or should have) as Christians. We should expect suffering – the Christian life is tough. However, we are in the kingdom – we have the priviledges of the kingdom, including a relationship with King Jesus, ruler of the world, who we also must obey. Therefore we should patiently endure the sufferings we experience, through the strength that our King gives us.
Application for me:
I think the thing that stands out to me is that I should take this seriously. Our God is mighty, able to care for us, and worthy of our worship. I cannot take him lightly – he is the King and I must obey him. And yet he loves us! Amazing, mind-boggling stuff.
Next: Chapter 2:1-7 – The letter to the Church in Ephesus.
I’ll post the rest in installments, and also outline the interpretive principles I’m working by and my reasons for them, at a later date. I don’t like to be too dogmatic about Revelation, because it’s so complicated, multi-layered and full of meaning that there’s bound to be much more than what I notice, but the Left Behind school of thought on it strikes me as just plain daft.