Delivered on August 21, 2005, Melana
talks to us about Revelations. This is the eighth in a series
dealing with topics requested by the congregation.
Introduction to Revelation Rev. 1:9-3:22
Today we begin our two week quick look at the Revelation to John.
What I am about to do this morning may sound more like a lecture than a sermon, but I am unclear how else to help you get a grasp of a book that often eludes our understanding.
So, here we go.
Revelation is the last of the 27 books of the New Testament. Its inclusion in the canon of the New Testament was controversial. While some leaders in the early church, mainly 2nd-4th centuries, believed that Revelation was an authoritative book that should be included in the canon, others did not want to include it because of the way many people interpreted it.
Already in the 2nd century, someone was using Revelation to predict that the end of the age was near and that the new Jerusalem would descend upon a city in what is now Turkey. Because of such misuse of the Scripture, many people wanted to keep Revelation out of the canon. It was eventually included, but that did not stop the controversy. Martin Luther thought it was theologically inadequate and would have liked to exclude it from the New Testament.
John Calvin wrote commentaries on every book in the New Testament - except Revelation. Even today, we rarely read from the Revelation in worship - and many pastors skip over it when it does come up in the lectionary readings. The book of Revelation is part of the canon of the New Testament and it does have authority for the life of the church, therefore we need to spend time learning how best to interpret what we read there.
The first place we begin in learning to interpret Scripture is to determine what sort of literature the text is. The Revelation, while we call it a book, is actually written as a letter to seven churches in Asia Minor, probably around 96AD. The author, John, not the apostle John or the writer of the gospel or letters bearing John's name, was writing a pastoral letter to churches that were facing a particular situation. Think of John as a sort of bishop, responsible for helping seven churches remain faithful in the midst of difficult times.
We start on the wrong foot when we think that the Revelation was written for people in a future time to warn of some event still to come. This book is not addressed to us, it is a letter to some churches that were wrestling with what it meant to be Christian in an age that worshiped the emperor. We can discern a message to us in the midst of that particular message as we discover that is similar in our situation, but it is important to recognize why the letter was written and to approach it from that respect.
That means that Revelation is not biblical prophecy of the end times in the way it has often been treated, even beginning in the 2nd century. It does not warn of some catastrophic end to the world that is surely coming. Biblical prophets, like Isaiah, Ezekiel, Daniel, and John, brought God's message to a people in a particular situation. Many of these prophets used language that seems to have hidden meanings, like Ezekiel's wheel within a wheel, to allow the people who were to hear the message some amount of safety from their persecutors or enemies. The receivers of the message understood the images that were used and consequently understood the essence of the message. Unfortunately for us, the images in these texts no longer have the same meaning for us and we can no longer adequately interpret the precise meaning of the texts. We begin to think we can recognize something and we try to put meaning to it in our own time, but we fail.
What I can tell you with absolute certainty is that John did not write the Revelation to have it taken literally. There have been some writers recently who have tried to interpret these texts very literally in order to bring people, through fear and guilt, to God. To me, this is a gross misuse of Scripture.
God wants people to hear about God's love and grace, but fear and guilt do not help with that message, in fact they work against the real message.
I am going to say this several times between this week and next week -
the message of Revelation is a message of hope. John wanted people to understand that God is in control of the present and the future and that God continues to want to bring us to know salvation. Revelation is an assurance of God's love and grace and a call to response to God's work in our present and in our future. As I said earlier, this was written as a letter and was to be read in its entirety in the context of worship.
In 96AD people lived in an age of spoken and heard presentations - there were no TV shows or movies - even plays were really readers' theater. People were used to sitting and listening to someone read for a long period of time.
This letter was to be read during worship and the service was to end with the celebration of Holy Communion - which would highlight the text about being invited to the Great Banquet.
I only read two chapters this morning, not all 22.
John writes as one who knows the Old Testament and the prophets who have come before him. He also knows the form of the apocalyptic writings and uses what people would expect in that time. The number seven was known to represent wholeness, completeness, a sense of being from God - so seven figures strongly in John's letter - seven churches, seven seals, seven trumpets, seven bowls - and seven plagues and finally, seven scenes of God's triumph. We will talk next week about what some of these things represent - but it is important in our introduction to recognize that seven is part of the overall plan for John's literary style.
Whether or not God gave John a real vision of the apocalypse in the way he describes it or whether the Holy Spirit inspired John to write out this fantastic masterpiece over time, is really not clear, nor perhaps is it relevant. The point is that God gave John a message to share with churches that were struggling with who they were and what they should be doing.
John faithfully shared that message with the seven churches. There was very little actual persecution of Christians that was occurring at the time of the writing of Revelation. But it is clear that John expected that it would soon come. He wanted the churches to be prepared to take on the burdens of life in a hostile age. He wants people to see that there baptism brings commitment to Jesus Christ - even when it costs something - even their life.
Probably the one text that most preachers have used from Revelation is the text from the third chapter to the church at Laodicea. John says that God despises this lukewarm church - pick - be for or against God, don't sit on the fence - do something. Suddenly we begin to see that this letter can still speak to us today. While it is difficult for us to understand, the Revelation is worth studying because it is part of Scripture and because we might begin to hear a word to us today. Not, I think, about the ending of the world and the great battle of good and evil, all those things that have inspired movies and books, but we might begin to hear God's call to the church in a time that is hostile to the church of Jesus Christ. Not because we cannot worship freely, because in this country we have that luxury, but because there are so many conflicting commitments that call for our time. Work schedules that keep people from coming to worship, sports practices that occur on Sunday mornings, Sunday being the only day of leisure for a family. The church must begin to wrestle with ways to reach people in a time when there are so many other good uses of people's time and energy.
Next week we will take a look at what Revelation really says - and hopefully hear God's word to us in a time of crisis - not a crisis of physical danger, but a crisis of faithfulness. If you didn't have a chance to read Revelation this week, I hope you will take the time to read it in the coming week as we look at God's word to us- God's word of hope and assurance, not fear and guilt.
© Melana Scruggs 2005
Questions? Comments? Email us!