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Revelation – a book for our times?

May 17, 2025

Easter 5 – 2025

Revelation 21:1-6

Marian Free

In the name of God in whose hands is our future and the future of the world. Amen.

Can you believe that nearly one quarter of the 21st. century has already passed? 24 ½ years ago the news was filled with stories of impending disasters, in particular that all the computers would crash and with them all of the infrastructure that they ran. Some people were busy building supplies of water and tinned food in preparation for the expected a destruction of the world. Others were predicting the sort of chaos depicted in The Book of Revelation – especially in relation to the release of Satan after 1,000 years of captivity.  (Indeed the 1000 years has taken on a meaning of its own, despite the fact that judgement did not rain down and the world was not destroyed at the beginning of the 11th century.)

The Book of Revelation is responsible for a great deal of fearmongering, predictions of dire judgement and the end of the world. Most of us can probably remember the anxiety that many people felt when the first credit cards were released – the three nested ‘b’s’ being taken for 666 –  the number of the beast in Revelation. 

Revelation or the Apocalypse of John is the most controversial and confusing book of the Bible. So controversial that it was not definitively included in our scriptures until the year 367 and even now many people choose to avoid it because it is so difficult.  Apart from these few weeks it has no part in our lectionary. The book is filled with fantastic images, lurid descriptions of God’s punishment and impenetrable symbolism. In other words, it seems to be completely incomprehensible and beyond rational belief. 

To some extent that is true, but it is also a book that to some extent is written in code and when one understands that code it becomes much easier to understand. In simple terms the Book describes a cosmic battle between good and evil, in which good is the victor. It is not intended to be a history, but it is based in a time and place and like prophetic literature. It is not intended as a prediction of what will happen in the future but rather a commentary on the current situation. Whereas prophetic literature warned about the consequences of continuing in the current (godless) course of action,  apocalyptic literature is designed to provide hope in situations in which the godly feel victimized and abandoned. 

Typically, apocalyptic theology arises at times when people are feeling the weight of oppression and injustice. It addresses the apparent flourishing of evil and assures the faithful that their persecutors will get their just desserts (while they, the faithful, will be rewarded for their suffering and endurance).

The Book of Revelation was written specifically for the seven churches addressed in the first few chapters. It appears that members of these churches were experiencing some sort of persecution, even martyrdom, but also that their initial enthusiasm for the faith was diminishing. While there was no wide-scale persecution at this time, believers were often isolated – from families, prevented from earning a living, and may have suffered some attacks from their neighbours and fellow citizens. The enduring power of Rome, its decadence and corruption will have been a source of angst and confusion to believers and on top of this there may have been a very real danger of war as armies gathered in the east.

In this climate, the author of Revelation writes to encourage and reassure the faithful and to warn the backsliders. John insists that God is on the side of believers and that good will win in the end. Consistent with other apocalyptic writings, the author also describes in great detail what God will do to backsliders or to those who oppose God and who persecute or oppress the faithful. This does not mean that all who do not believe will be destroyed. Revelation is a call to repentance – the threatened destruction will not affect those who return to God.

While the book appears to be totally chaotic, various commentators have pointed out that the book is extraordinarily well-structured. Michael Fallon[1] for example demonstrates that the Book is divided into seven scenes, the first five of which are bordered by descriptions of heaven.  Schüssler Fiorenza argues that the Book follows a concentric pattern around a central core. Both understand chapter 10 a fulcrum, it looks back to themes mentioned earlier in the book (things which are hidden) and forward to the end (things which are exposed). 

As I have mentioned, Revelation is filled with symbolism and patterns, which make more sense if one understands the code. For example, there are seven letters, each of which follow a similar pattern and include a reference to description of the Son of Man with which the Book begins. In each there is a greeting, a reference to the description of Jesus, a commendation, a rebuke, a call to repentance or a warning, a prophetic saying, a promise of Christ’s speedy coming, an exhortation to hold fast, a call to listen and finally promise to the broader community that those who conquer will be rewarded. The letters are followed by four sets of seven plagues which again follow a pattern – persecution, judgement and victory.

That the book is not meant to be taken literally is evidenced by the seven plagues – each of which threatens to destroy the whole world. The repetition is simply for effect – it is impossible to destroy the world once it has been destroyed. Another clue that the book is not literal is the future reference to the birth of Jesus in chapter 12. Readers of the book would understand that Jesus had already been born.

Which brings me briefly to today’s reading. Revelation ends as it begins with Jesus as the first and the last, the Alpha and Omega. Before that the recipients are assured that not only will God triumph in the end, but that all things will be renewed and that those who hold firm will see an end to sorrow, pain and dying, and that God, who has never abandoned them will wipe their tears from their eyes.

The message of Revelation is that no matter how bad things are, no matter how much suffering we might endure, God will be the victor, and God will restore all things and will bring us to Godself. 

Understood properly, The Book of Revelation is not an archaic, incomprehensible, irrelevant piece of scripture but a message for our own turbulent times.

*************************

NOTES

Some code breakers.

The use of numbers. Seven as you know is the number for perfection (seven days of the week) and by contrast 31/2 (42 months) is the number for imperfection. There were twelve tribes of Israel and 12 Apostles. Twelve is the number for completeness. Four relates to the four. Corners of the world and the four elements, it relates to totality.  There are seven churches, seven letters, seven plagues, the Lamb has 7 horns and 7 eyes and there are seven spirits. The number admitted to heaven – 144000 12x12x1000 – is symbolic not literal. The four sets of seven plagues implies total destruction. The four faced creatures – lion, ox, human and eagle -represent the noblest, the strongest, the wisest and the swiftest. 666, the number which to some holds so much weight, is the number represented by the Hebrew spelling of Nero. (There was a popular belief that Nero would be resurrected and wreak terror on the land.)

Colours are also significant – gold signifies divinity, white – purity, red-war, black- plague and pale green-death.

Structure

A 1:1-8 Prologue and Epistolary Greeting

                  1:1-3 Title

                  1:4-6 Greetings

                  1:7-8 Motto

B 1:9-3:22 Rhetorical Situation in the Cities of Asia Minor

                  1:9-10 Author and Situation

                  1:11-20 Prophetic Inaugural Vision

I                 1:1-3:22 Prophetic message to seven communities

C 4:1-9:21, 11:15-19 Opening the Sealed Scroll

                  4:1-5:14 Heavenly Court and the sealed scroll

II               6:1-8:1 Cosmic Plagues – Seven Seals

III              8:2-9:21; 11:15-19 Cosmic Plagues – Seven Trumpets

D 10:1-15:4 The Bitter-sweet Scroll: “War against the community”

                  10:1-11:14 Prophetic commissioning

                  12:1-14:5 Prophetic interpretation

                  14:6-15:4 Eschatological liberation

C’ 15:5-19:10 Exodus from the Oppression of Babylon/Rome

IV             15:5- 16:21 Cosmic plagues – seven bowls

                  17:1-18 Rome and its Power

                  18:1-19:10 Judgement of Rome

B’ 19:11-22:9 Liberation from Evil and God’s World-City

                  19:11-20:15 Liberation from the powers of evil

                  21:1-8 The liberated world of God

                  21:9-22:9 The different cosmopolis of God

A’ 22:10-21 Epilogue and Epistolary Frame

                  22:1-7 Revelatory Sayings

                  22:8-21 Epistolary Conclusion[2]

a. Introduction                                                                      1:1-3

b. Opening liturgical dialogue                                 1:4-8

c. Prophetic commission                                            1:9-11

                  Heaven

Scene 1 Letters to the 7 churches                      2:1-3:22

                  Heaven                                                                       4:1-5:14

Scene 2 Six seals are broken                                                     6:1-7:9

                  Heaven                                                                       7:9-8:6                  

Scene 3 The sounding of six trumpets            8:7-11:14

                  Heaven                                                                       11:15-12:12

Scene 4 Forces for good and for evil                 12:13-14:20

                  Heaven                                                                       15:1-8

Scene 5 The seven bowls                                            16:1-18:24

                  Heaven                                                                       19:1-10

Scene 6 The final struggle, victory                      19:11-20:15

                  and judgement                                 

Scene 7 The Church of God on earth                21:1-22:5

                  a. guarantee of prophecy                          22:6-7

                  b. Concluding liturgical dialogue       22:8-17

                  c. Conclusion                                                       22:18-21

[1] Fallon, Michael. The Apocalypse: A Revelation that History is Graced. Sydney: Parish Ministry Publications, 1990.

[2] Schussler-Fiorenza, Elisabeth. Revelation: Vision of a Just World. Minneapolis:Fortress Press, 1991, 35-36.

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Breaking the code

April 9, 2016

Easter 2 – 2016

Revelation

Marian Free

 

In the name of God, Alpha and Omega, the beginning and the end, who was and who is and who is to come. Amen.

Images such as “the four horsemen of the apocalypse” and “the mark of the beast” have become part of our cultural heritage. Even the word apocalypse is widely understood to mean the violent end of the world. I wonder if people who use such terminology understand that the images come from the book of Revelation or the Apocalypse. This is such a complex and controversial book of the bible, that it was not formally included in the canon of the New Testament until the fourth century. Even now, it is often regarded as too difficult and unorthodox to be included regularly in our diet of Sunday readings.

Of all the books of the Bible, Revelation is the one most open to misunderstanding and abuse. It is difficult to read and its meaning is so obscure that it is often avoided. This is unfortunate for two reasons: one is that it means that we fail to appreciate it and the second is that it leaves us unprepared to challenge the dangerous results of misinterpretation[1].

As the introduction suggests, Revelation is written (as a letter?) to seven churches in Asia Minor. The context suggests that church members are feeling under threat. As there was no official persecution at that time we can only guess that their conversion to Christianity had led to social exclusion and financial hardship. Being a Christian meant that they could no longer associate with the local Temples. This meant a form of voluntary social ostracism. Temples were places for meeting and eating and what is more they were closely associated with the various trade guilds. Not being able to visit the Temple mean isolation from the community at large and it also made it almost impossible to ply one’s trade.

When a community feels under threat, it is not unusual for those people to envision a future in which everything will be put to right – the righteous rewarded and the wicked punished. It is in this context that we need to read the book of Revelation. The colourful, and in places lurid imagery is intended to give hope and encouragement to those who (at some considerable cost to themselves are refusing to conform to the society around them.

Understanding Revelation requires making sense of the symbolism, breaking the code as it were. For example, numbers and colours take on specific meanings. Seven is the number for perfection, which means that 3½ or 1,260 days is the number for imperfection. We see that the work is written to seven churches, there are four sets of seven – seven seals, seven trumpets, seven visions and seven bowls. There are also seven churches, seven unnumbered visions and seven beatitudes Twelve is another significant number – 12 tribes of Israel and 12 disciples. 666 (of 616, “the mark of the beast”) may have no more significance than that it refers to Nero the letters of whose name add up to that number. The use of colour is also of significance. The four horses are white, red, black and pale (or green). It is believe that these symbolize conquest, war, famine and death.

The author is heavily reliant on the OT and it is easy for example to find images from Isaiah – the angels before the throne saying “holy, holy, holy” and the idea that God will wipe every tear from our eyes. Imagery of the Son of Man coming on the clouds is straight out of the book of Daniel and so on. At the same time, the book is not written in isolation, but is a product of the times. Nero was a particularly erratic and violent Emperor who was condemned to death. Before the execution could take place, Nero disappeared – this lead to a rumour that he would return one day. When Revelation refers to an army gathered in the east, it is possible that it refers to the return of Nero.

Not only is the book filled with symbolism, it is made up of repeated patterns. For example, each of the letters to the churches follows the same pattern and each of the seven plagues follows a pattern of persecution (of the righteousness), punishment (of the nations) and the triumph of God. Another aspect to note is that the writing is concentric or cyclic rather than linear, that is the events repeat themselves, each time becoming a little more dramatic or more destructive. It is impossible for the earth and all who live on it to be destroyed over and over again. Rather the pattern is repeated for emphasis, describing the wrath of God on three levels – the individual, humanity as a whole and the cosmos. The violence and the heavenly portents are not intended to be descriptions of what is to happen, they are pictorial images presented with a degree of exaggeration to make a point. Each builds on the last, but that does not mean that the events as described are meant to occur sequentially. A world without God is destined to self-destruct, but in the final analysis, God will make all things right.

The writer obviously had a sense of drama. Michael Fallon believes that the book can be divided as if into scenes in a play, with moments of high drama[2] – such as the dramatic pause before the opening of the seventh seal. The first five scenes are followed by glimpses of heaven – a vision of what life will be for those who hold on to the end.

The book of Revelation does not describe actual events, nor does it provide as some sort of road map for the present and future. It is an imaginative picture of a time of future judgement when the righteous will be rewarded and the unrighteous punished. It is written to give the recipients a cause for hope and the courage to hold on – even in the most difficult circumstances. When this life has done its worst, “those who conquer will inherit a new heaven and a new earth”[3] and having faith in the face of great opposition will be seen to have been worth it.

For all its difficulties, it is worth breaking the code and trying to understand the book of Revelation. It is a book of hope for the hopeless, a reassurance that all things are in God’s hands and at the end God will be seen to be the victor.

 

 

 

 

 

 

[1] Think Jonestown and other millennial movements that have convinced people that the world is so corrupt that the only solution is withdrawal and even suicide.

[2] a. Introduction                                                                         1:1-3

  1. Opening liturgical dialogue                                1:4-8
  2. Prophetic commission                                         1:9-11

Heaven

Scene 1 Letters to the 7 churches                                    2:1-3:22

Heaven                                                               4:1-5:14

Scene 2 Six seals are broken                                            6:1-7:9

Heaven                                                               7:9-8:6

Scene 3 The sounding of six  trumpets                          8:7-11:14

Heaven                                                             11:15-12:12

Scene 4 Forces for good and for evil                            12:13-14:20

Heaven                                                             15:1-8

Scene 5 The seven bowls                                                 16:1-18:24

Heaven                                                              19:1-10

Scene 6 The final struggle, victory                                19:11-20:15

and judgement

Scene 7 The Church of God on earth                            21:1-22:5

  1. Guarantee of prophecy                                         22:6-7
  2. Concluding liturgical dialogue                            22:8-17
  3. Conclusion                                                              22:18-21

 

[3] 21:1 Then I saw a new heaven and a new earth; for the first heaven and the first earth had passed away, and the sea was no more. 2 And I saw the holy city, the new Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from God, prepared as a bride adorned for her husband. 3 And I heard a loud voice from the throne saying,

“See, the home of God is among mortals.

He will dwell with them as their God;

they will be his peoples,

and God himself will be with them;

4                   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.”

5   And the one who was seated on the throne said, “See, I am making all things new.” Also he said, “Write this, for these words are trustworthy and true.” 6 Then he said to me, “It is done! I am the Alpha and the Omega, the beginning and the end. To the thirsty I will give water as a gift from the spring of the water of life. 7 Those who conquer will inherit these things, and I will be their God and they will be my children.

 

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