We have reached the end of our journey through Revelation. It’s been heavy going at times, but there has been a lot more hope and encouragement in it than many of us were expecting. At the very beginning, I suggested that you go away and listen to the whole of Revelation in one sitting, as that is how it would have been first encountered. I think it really helps you to appreciate the dreamlike and cinematic quality of the unfolding vision, and so I would still recommend giving it a go. Bible Gateway has a number of audio Bibles available on their website and app, including one brilliantly read by David Suchet, and it takes about an hour for the whole of Revelation.
It may also be helpful to pull our seven weeks of study together, so here you will find a brief overview, bringing out some of the big ideas and main themes of the text, with links to the full reflections.
We start off with some background, realising that Revelation was written as a letter to a particular group of churches at a particular time, most likely following or during a period of persecution. Seen in that light, it seems to have a significant pastoral concern, reassuring the churches that there are reasons to be hopeful. It relays a vision received by John in exile, which draws heavily on imagery from earlier prophetic visions. It falls into the genre of apocalyptic literature, which is not necessarily concerned with the end of the world, but rather with the end of the world as we know it, revealing deep truths about a changing reality.
The vision begins with Christ, resplendent among representations of the churches, and reaching out to comfort John, who is then instructed to write down letters to the seven churches. These letters contain both praise and criticism, as well as a call to persevere and listen to what Christ is saying. John then sees a door open in heaven, and he steps through into the throne room of God, entering another reality which is tantalisingly close to our own. Elders in white robes cast their crowns before God, while inexplicable creatures lead an eternal song of worship.
Things then start to get really weird, with the appearance of a lamb who breaks open the seven seals on a scroll held by God, unleashing a series of catastrophes. The four horsemen of the apocalypse are followed by the cries of the martyrs and a devastating earthquake, before the final seal brings the prayers of God’s people and half an hour of silence in heaven. In the midst of all this chaos, there is an interlude in which John hears that one hundred and forty four thousand have been marked with the seal of God, but then sees a multitude that cannot be counted singing praise to God, a large but finite number of the chosen giving way to an infinite crowd of the faithful, expanding our understanding of the people of God.
We then hear seven angels blast seven trumpets, unleashing another series of disasters, and in the midst of that two witnesses are killed and resurrected, seeming to reduce the number of other casualties in the process, giving us hope that while the church may not be able to prevent all disaster, our witness can make a difference. We are also led to wonder if we might hear Revelation in the same way the Ninevites heard Jonah's prophecy, as a warning not a certainty, so that we might likewise repent and save ourselves from destruction.
This is followed by the appearance of a woman and a dragon, and beasts from the earth and the sea, and we are given a picture of the totalising and brutalising force of empire, which ends with the harvesting of the earth and the winepress of God’s wrath. We begin to see that what we need is not a better form of empire, but a different way of working and being together, a way that is quiet and gentle and joyful and inclusive, a way that is like the kingdom Jesus spoke of in his parables.
The seven seals and seven trumpets are followed by seven plagues, which likewise ravish the earth, although it is not clear if these really are three separate and consecutive series of events, or three iterations of the same theme of judgement, which we have come to see may be understood as natural consequence rather than divine punishment. Here it seems important to remember that scripture tells us over and over again that “the Lord is gracious and compassionate, slow to anger and rich in love”, so that everything else must make sense in the light of that.
We then see the final destruction of Babylon, and realise that empire cannot last because it is incompatible with God's heart and design for creation. Jesus defeats the beasts and the dragon, his only weapon the sword that comes from his mouth, for it is the person and word of Christ that brings victory. Satan is bound for a thousand years and then swiftly defeated again, encouraging us that evil can try as much as it likes, it will always lose in the end. And finally the dead are resurrected and judged according to the books of their deeds and redeemed according to the Book of Life, because our earthly lives are meaningful but it is ultimately in God’s grace that our confidence rests.
At last we come to the new heaven and the new earth. We see the holy city, in which the human inventions of streets and walls appear in perfect harmony with the divine creations of rivers and trees, and we understand that we can become co-creators with God, perhaps even now. Those whose names are not written in the Book of Life at first appear to be thrown in the lake of fire, but then we find them waiting outside the city walls, and we dare to hope that God’s grace is so great that they might yet enter the city whose gates never close.
And so we reach the end of Revelation. As the books itself concludes, "Amen. Come, Lord Jesus. The grace of the Lord Jesus be with God’s people. Amen."
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