Revelation 22:12-21
7 Easter C
Revelation
22:12-21
What do you know about the Book of
Revelation? If you are like most main-line Protestants, like most Lutherans,
you probably don’t know too much. It’s not a book that we spend too much time
trying to figure out, or trying to explain. But other Christian groups
certainly have, and what we do know probably comes from bits and pieces of their
theology that we have picked up; Revelation is a prediction of the end of the
world. Revelation is literally true. Revelation tells that a righteous few will
be “raptured” out of this world and taken to heaven, while the rest will be
left behind to suffer the woes of the end-times.
Since we are so uninformed about Revelation,
and since the voices of those who think they have it figured out are speaking
loudly to our world, I thought it was about time that we spent a little time
exploring the last book of the Bible, and what it might really mean for us.
Perhaps you have noticed that during the
Easter season, our Second Lesson has been from Revelation. What we have heard
in those lessons has been a promise of a new and glorious future with God and
Christ—not a prediction of cataclysmic doom and gloom. So what I’d like to try
to do here in 15 minutes or so is try to give you and introduction to what the
Book of Revelation is, and what it is not. Here goes.
The Book of Revelation is a challenging book
to read and understand. It was written in symbolic language during a time of
great persecution and danger for Christians. Its language of visions is a kind
of secret code that the author used to encourage Christians to remain faithful,
and stand firm against opposition.
The author of the book is known as “John the
Divine”. This is not John, the disciple of Jesus, or John, the author of the
fourth gospel. John the Divine was a Jewish Christian, a mystic, who was
persecuted for his faith. He was exiled to the
John the Divine wrote Revelation around the
year 95 AD, near the end of the reign of the Roman Emperor Domitian. Domitian,
like the emperors Nero and Caligula before him, was a persecutor of Christians.
Domitian insisted that he be called “My Lord and my God.” Christians refused to
pledge allegiance to him in this way, and were brutally punished.
John’s vision is of the final battle between
God and the forces of evil. John describes
John is writing in a style known as
“apocalyptic.” That means the unveiling of something that is hidden—in other words,
revealed—a Revelation. Apocalyptic writing seeks to encourage people in the
midst of their struggles. Writing in this style, John the Divine uses images of
battle, of dreadful creatures, and of a world dissolving in blood. The message
hidden in this vision is that things will go from bad to worse, and the
assurance that God will not abandon those who remain faithful. Salvation will
come through the triumph of the Lamb, Jesus Christ. The sinful world will be no
more, and there will be a new heaven and a new earth, with a
The early church had trouble deciding
whether Revelation should be included in the Bible. Martin Luther wasn’t too
sure about it, either. In our own time, the Book of Revelation has sometimes
been used to predict the time of the end of the world or to warn of some
cataclysmic end to our world. The Book of Revelation, however, is not a
prediction of future events. Its images and symbols were designed to encourage
Christians to remain faithful, and to find hope in their belief that God will
reign forever.
The message of Revelation for Christians
today is the same. We live in God’s world, and we affirm God’s reign over all
creation, while waiting for the time when God’s reign will come in its
fullness.
If you would like to read more about the
Book of Revelation, and how it has been used and mis-used, let me recommend a
couple of resources. This week’s Newsweek magazine has a good article about the
authors of the “Left Behind” series of novels—which, by the way, are
fiction—and where the theology of the Rapture comes from. The April 20th
issue of The Christian Century has a book review of two new books about
Revelation. I’d be happy to lend you either magazine.
Whether you want to dig deeper into the
meaning of Revelation or not, let me just leave you with what we have heard
from scripture over that past weeks of the Easter season; The concluding
chapters of Revelation point to a spectacular portrait of life as God intends
for us to live it. It is most definitely not a fantasy for the future, but a
revealed picture of what life as the Church is intended by God to be. It is a
world of great natural abundance, of flowing water and ripe fruit. In other
words, it is our world, as God created it, apart from human sinfulness that has
so terribly marred its beauty. And in that world, God lives not in a temple,
like the gods of the ancient world, but in a tent, in the midst of the people.
And perhaps, most amazingly, it is not a
human building project, but a pure gift from God. To live in this new creation
is to truly be the Church to this world—to be a place where God and the Lamb of
God reign in justice and abundance for all people; a place whose gates are
always open and whose light always shines; a place of great joy where the
darkness of violence, exploitation and death is banished.
Revelation is not a word of doom and gloom,
but a vibrant and exciting call to live NOW in God’s realm. The final words of
Revelation are not words of battle, but words of blessing, of benediction—and
here they are, in modern translation;
Yes, I’m
on my way! I’ll be there soon! I’m bringing my payroll with me. I’ll pay all
people in full for their life’s work. I’m A to Z, the First and the Final,
Beginning and Conclusion. How blessed are those who wash their robes! The Tree
of Life is theirs for good, and they’ll walk through the gates to the city.
I, Jesus,
sent my angel to testify to these things to the churches. I’m the root and
Branch of David, the Bright Morning Star.
“Come!”
say the Spirit and the Bride.
Whoever
hears, echo, “Come!”
Is anyone
thirsty? Come!
Drink
freely of the Water of Life!
He who
testifies to all these things says it again: “I’m on my way! I’ll be there
soon!”
Yes! Come
Lord Jesus!
The grace
of the Lord Jesus be with all of you. Oh yes!
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