This is the third entry in a three-part series. The earlier posts are here and here.
Perhaps you're acquainted with a Bible prophecy movement buff, the sort of person who visits the Christian bookstore to purchase books about the end-times. She even may sport one of those "In case of rapture, this car will be unmanned" stickers on her bumper. Bible prophecy buffs like to remind us that we're living in the "last days."
The Bible prophecy movement represents one group of people who like Revelation. Polls suggest that a sizable minority of people believe the end is near, but only a much smaller group really reads the books, watches the videos and peruses the websites. Most of us may find those end-time devotees a little wacky, but we can all understand why their belief system appeals to some people.
End-time speculation provides its devotees with something we all need, a story to live by. Prophecy believers see themselves as the faithful minority that understands the true meaning of history. For them, bad news is all part of God's plan. While things go to hell all around them -- and in this election year, who's to say things aren't? -- end-time believers believe their salvation is drawing near. When church attendance declines and civic prayer disappears, Bible prophecy teachers tell people this is their moment to shine. Only a faithful few will endure until Jesus comes to rapture the saints into the sky. A meaningful story-line for one's life holds great appeal. I may not share their outlook, but I think I understand it.
But what about the rest of us? Who likes Revelation, and who doesn't?
Revelation has long appealed to people who resist imperialism and injustice. Revelation called ancient Christians to reject the Roman Empire, to abstain from popular worship of the emperor and refrain from exploitative commercial systems. From Latin American liberation theologians, who understood that God takes sides with the poor, to Allan Boesak, who finished a book about Revelation during an Apartheid era state of emergency, countless readers have found encouragement in the Apocalypse. Even within the United States, political activists have find in Revelation a critique of militaristic and imperialistic policies.
Warren Carter's new book, "What Does Revelation Reveal?" provides several answers to its own question. According to Carter, Revelation reveals what it means to worship God and Christ. It challenges believers to faithful living in the midst of cultural pressure to compromise. It demonstrates that, while God does judge, God also offers the opportunity for repentance. And Revelation reveals how God's reign of justice and peace will displace oppressive and violent systems.
If Revelation brings good news for the oppressed, what's not to like? Typically Revelation has faced four major sets of objections.
First, many readers find Revelation escapist. In the face of overwhelming injustice, they say, Revelation offers an empty promise: a pie in the sky future. Endure now, and hope for a better life beyond this one. Christianity has long been subject to this critique, that it inspires hope for the future without providing resources for changing the present. In the words of an old Arrested Development rap, "The word, hope, and the word, change, are directly opposite; not the same."
Second, many reject Revelation's violence. Revelation portrays enormous human suffering, to the point that people cry out for the rocks to crush them and put an end to their torment (6:16-17). It even resorts to the imagery of sexual violence (2:22) and the annihilation of a "great city" (18:21-24). In my own research, I've noted how Revelation employs choirs to praise God immediately after its most horrific scenes -- almost as if some justification is necessary (15:2-4; 16:4-7). Allan Boesak defends Revelation's violence, writing, "If [Christ's] cloak is spattered with blood, it is the blood of his enemies, the destroyers of the earth and of his children." Indeed, Revelation maintains that God does not watch idly while masses of people suffer exploitation. Yet Revelation's willingness to imagine and to justify violence poses a problem for many readers.
Third, more recent interpreters critique Revelation's gendered imagery. Like other biblical books, Revelation often employs women's sexuality as a metaphor for righteousness and wickedness. The prophet Jezebel is promiscuous; she faces judgment. The Great City Babylon is a prostitute; she goes up in smoke. Revelation's two positively valued female images are a mother and a bride, the Woman Clothed with the Sun (chapter 12) and the New Jerusalem (chapters 21-22), respectively. In a passage that baffles interpreters to this day Revelation describes the 144,000 who follow Christ as "those who have not defiled themselves with women" (14:4, my translation). Does Revelation have woman problems? Gender instability? One wonders.
And finally, many object to Revelation's "us against the world" sectarian outlook. Revelation identifies its audience as saints, prophets, slaves, kings and witnesses. But its frequent references to "the inhabitants of the earth" depict the masses of people as wicked and deceived, subject to judgment and incapable of repentance. It's one thing for a tiny, vulnerable minority to look upon the larger society with suspicion. But it's a dangerous thing when one group thinks of itself as righteous and pure, regarding the rest of the world simply as kindling for the abyss.
In my view Revelation adds an invaluable contribution to the biblical witness, but it also requires sensitive, honest interpretation. One cannot just wish away the dangers Revelation presents -- and the sad examples of many apocalyptic movements testify to those dangers. Yet within the New Testament Revelation represents the one book that most clearly calls believers to be suspicious of power and of empire. Revelation exhorts Christ's followers to faithful witness even in the most harrowing circumstances. It reminds us not to confuse power with righteousness: "Who is like the Beast, and who can fight against it?" (13:4). And Revelation demonstrates that glamorous appearances rarely embody God's truth (17:1-6). Revelation unites the risky witness of those who confront injustice and idolatry with that of Jesus, who endured humiliation and death on account of his own "faithful witness" (1:5). Dangers attend the reading of Revelation, but more is lost by avoiding it.
Follow Greg Carey on Twitter: www.twitter.com/GregC666
Michael Gilmour: Anne Brontë's Religious Imagination
Book of Revelation - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Revelation 1 NIV - Prologue - The revelation from Jesus - Bible ...
Revelation | Define Revelation at Dictionary.com
revelation - definition of revelation by the Free Online Dictionary ...
Rev 21:27; "And there shall in no wise enter into it any thing that defileth, neither whatsoever worketh abomination, or maketh a lie: but they which are written in The Lamb's Book of Life."
So it seems all one has to do is work some lie or do anything God considers an abomination to be kept from the reward one may think they have coming.
Getting into the "Lamb's Book of Life" is not as easy as some think.
The violence does not start until the kings of the earth gather to do battle with God (Rev.16:14). Six seals are opened in chapter six; the seventh seal spans from chapter eight to chapter sixteen, verse 17 (7th seal in 7 parts; 7th part in 7 parts; 7th part of the 7th part in 7 parts. The seven seal have effects with dire consequences, but are not the result of violence. Violence and plague are not the same thing by definition. Cancer, heart attacks, and AIDS kill, but are not a form of violence. Earthquakes kill and destroy, but are called disasters rather than violence.
The recurring theme is "the rest of men repented not:" The same men that assembled to go to war against divine intervention.
"Women as a metaphor in Revelation"
Perhaps its because God considered Israel a wife (woman) and Judah her sister, rather than a sexual symbol: "And I saw, when for all the causes whereby backsliding Israel committed adultery I had put her away, and given her a bill of divorce ... and yet her treacherous sister Judah ..." Jer.3:8.
I do agree that Revelation is sensitive and invaluable, requiring honesty and diligence. I think it is supported by other books. Example: Matt.24:14, Rev.14:6 and Rev.7:1-2, Matt.24:31.
I consider Revelation: final exam.
"Good people will do good things, and bad people will do bad things. But for good people to do bad things -- that takes religion."
These “rivers and the fountains of the waters” picture the so-called fresh sources of guidance and wisdom accepted by this world, such as the political, economic, scientific, educational, social, and religious philosophies that guide human actions and decisions. Rather than look to God, the Fountain of life, for life-giving truth, men have ‘hewn out for themselves broken cisterns’ and drunk deeply of “the wisdom of this world [that] is foolishness with God.”—Jeremiah 2:13; 1 Corinthians 1:19; 2:6; 3:19; Psalm 36:9.
Such tainted “waters” have led men to become bloodguilty, for example, in encouraging them to shed blood on a monumental scale in wars, which in the last century took more than a hundred million lives. Particularly in Christendom, where the two world wars erupted, have men been “in a hurry to shed innocent blood,” and this has included the blood of God’s own witnesses. (Isaiah 59:7; Jeremiah 2:34)
The “glassy sea” is the same one that John saw earlier, positioned before the throne of God. (Revelation 4:6) It is similar to “the molten sea” (water container) of Solomon’s temple, where the priests obtained water to cleanse themselves. (1 Kings 7:23) It is thus a fine representation of “the bath of water,” that is, God’s Word, by which Jesus cleanses the priestly congregation of anointed Christians.144k (Ephesians 5:25, 26; Hebrews 10:22) This glassy sea is “mingled with fire,” indicating that these anointed ones are tested and purged as they obey the high standard set for them. Further, it reminds us that God’s Word also contains expressions of fiery judgments against his enemies. (Deuteronomy 9:3; Zephaniah 3:8) Some of these fiery judgments are manifested in the seven last plagues that are about to be poured out.
See: http://revolutionofreason.com and http://www.youtube.com/RobertLBlackburn
Every generation has entertained the "reality" of Armageddon as a form of social Hubris. People die, sometimes lots of them. Bad things happen, even catastrophic, world changing things. What once was explained by fantastic delusion, has now been dismantled by the power of scientific intrigue.
In short, if you think we have it bad, read a history book.
The bible says pride is a sin, you know.
"And they soon will."
Yeah, yeah. 20 centuries on and it's still "soon" with you people.
In case you or someone may care here is the proof the "hot hell" doctrine is wrong;
http://www.truechristianityevangelism.org/hell.htnl