Delivered on August 28, 2005, Melana
continues her discussion of Revelation. This is the ninth in a series
dealing with topics requested by the congregation.
More on Revelation Rev. 21-22
This morning we continue our look at the book of Revelation - a very quick look.
I hope you have had the opportunity to read the book in its entirety.
As I mentioned last week, the Revelation is actually a letter written to churches and was intended to be read through in worship, with communion celebrated afterwards. This was in a time when people lived in a world that was much more focused on oral learning. Most people did not, even could not, read for themselves - and books were hand copied and not easy to get. There was no television, even plays were really readers' theater, with little or no action.
People were used to listening and using their imagination - we are used to watching, with everything already laid out for us.
I've been reading a novel recently in which a 77 year old preacher is given a television by his congregation so that he can watch baseball games.
He decides he would rather listen to them on the radio and imagine the game, than try to watch it on television. We find that very foreign - we are visual people - which makes Revelation even more difficult for us to get a handle on.
It occurred to me over the course of the last week that Revelation is really a word picture - we cannot get a real grasp of the words themselves because they spin a picture that we are supposed to imagine. I called my father this week to ask him about some pictures and told him what I had in mind about Revelation and he said John was on some drug when he wrote this. It was a joke, but that is the impression we get when we read this letter without any help or explanation. As I thought about how we might get a grasp of this letter, I thought about some painters who have seen things with different eyes.
I thought it might help us with Revelation if we took a look at some of those paintings and began to think about perspective and about how realism is not the only way to see things.
The first paintings I want to share with you are by Claude Monet, an impressionist, who saw things a little differently than many others. The paintings I am showing you are of the Cathedral at Rouen, painted at different times of day, with different light. Our view of the cathedral is enhanced by seeing the various shades and nuances of light that become clear in different paintings.
http://www.ibiblio.org/wm/paint/auth/monet/rouen/
In the Revelation, John often tries to give the hearers a perspective different from their usual one so that they gain a broader view of God's possibilities. Several times John shows us the same thing with different lighting, varied nuances - this seems to confuse us, but it was intended to enhance our understanding of God's amazing creation.
No one picture could allow us to see and understand the fullness of God's work.
Pablo Picasso was famous for his portraits that showed both sides of the person's face - an impossibility in reality, but a marvelous work of art.
http://www.epinion.com.br/colunas/archives/femme%20picasso.jpg
John tries to do a similar thing in Revelation. Often he shows two things happening that cannot seem to happen together, but he is giving us a picture of the immensity of God's love and grace. Logically many of the things John describes could not both happen, but this is not logical, it is a message of the heart.
Salvador Dali, a surrealist, put many different things into his paintings.
The one we are looking at here is called "The Metamorphosis of Narcissus."
http://www.popartuk.com/g/l/lg6810003.jpg
Dali took a painting of Narcissus by Carvaggio, which was familiar to many and added in pictures that depicted some of T.S. Eliot's poem, The Wasteland.
His own narcissistic personality influenced the painting as well. In Revelation, John is building on the Old Testament prophets and their writing, which were familiar to the church members and built on it to help them see a broader picture.
John's own beliefs and personality figure into the writing as well. Think about a kaleidoscope - a tube filled with colorful pieces of glass and two mirrors- but when the light is reflected off the mirrors and the tube is turned, many different and beautiful images emerge. John keeps giving us different views of God's promise and hope so that we might finally grasp a little of what God is saying. Remember, also, that John uses Old Testament Scripture to help people understand what he is trying to say about God. He uses the story of the Exodus and images from that story so that people will be reminded that God can bring about great things, even out of adversity. The tribulation is compared to the plagues of Egypt, which helped Israel gain their freedom from bondage and tried to bring Egypt to repentance.
John wants the church to be reminded of God's redeeming work so that they will be assured that God will save them from the bondage of Rome. John hears the seven thunders but is told not to reveal what he heard here. Perhaps this is a way to keep anyone from thinking they have all the answers and can predict the end of time. The woman in chapter 12 represents Mary, the mother of Jesus, and the nation of Israel and the church universal. It is difficult to pin John down on his symbolism - which should keep us from taking things too literally, but obviously doesn't always do so. The dragon is meant to represent evil, often personified in the devil or Satan.
What John wanted to show was that evil does not triumph - God does.
The ultimate battle between good and evil, sometimes called Armageddon, will have the expected outcome - God will win - the fight is fixed - by Jesus Christ.
We are all aware of the notion that only 144,000 people will be part of God's ultimate kingdom. That is symbolism too - often misused to knock fear into people. Multiples of 12 were reminders again of the tribes of Israel and the redemption of the people. 1000 was a symbol for more than could be counted - so 144,000 represents all those who are committed to Jesus Christ - the fullness of the church. All these symbols work together to remind us of God at work in the world to bring about the fullness of God's victory on earth.
I realize that I have not answered many of your questions, particularly about the meaning of certain items mentioned in the text - some of those sevens.
I decided intentionally not to do so. Revelation is not an allegory - it was not written so that someone could say, "This stands for this and that stands for that and so we are sure the end is coming." Many people have used it that way, but that was never John's intention. He wanted the churches to have hope in the in-between times - wanted them to have the assurance that God is at work in the world. That is still a message for us today in the midst of the cultural crises that face us.
God is at work in the world. God calls us to be about God's work, but God is in control and will prevail whether or not we respond to God's call. If you were here yesterday for the distribution of food, you saw God at work and you saw our ability to be part of that work and to be blessed by it - not in any financial sense, but blessed by God's presence and the power of hope in the world.
When we are involved in God's work, we are, in some way, singing the Holy, holy, holy that we sang this morning and that the saints sing before the throne of God. Revelation is a difficult book because of the symbolism that we so often fail to understand. Some of the symbolism can help us in the days in which we live now - as we hear God's call to each of us in the midst of a culture that does not reward being committed to Jesus Christ.
If you hear nothing else from last week and this, I would like you to hear this one thing –
Revelation was and is a letter of hope to the churches of Jesus Christ.
The message is that God is in control in the midst of history and promises to bring the victory over evil once and for all.
Praise our God!
© Melana Scruggs 2005
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