96 - A Voice and a Vision

Revelation 1:1-20

We've read through many of they key passages of the Bible, encountering creation, beginnings, ancestors, slavery, liberation, law, promised land, battles, judges, kings and kingdoms, prophets, psalms and wisdom, exile, return, birth of the Messiah, beatitudes, parables, miracles, arrest and trial, crucifixion, resurrection, ascension, Holy Spirit, missionaries, new churches, conflict, and guidance.

Now we come to the last book, the Revelation, or the Apocalypse.  This is where it should all come together, but this book is a maze inside a mystery, all in over-the-top symbolic language.  What are we to make of it?

First a suggestion, true of all of scripture, but especially true for Revelation:  you will get much more out of it if you (1) use an annotated or study bible, and (2) have and use a good commentary.

Two study bibles you might look at:

The Harper Collins Study Bible, and

The New Oxford Annotated Bible

These books have good introductions to each book, setting them in context, giving a brief overview of what is known about the authors, the circumstances of the writing, and how they relate to the rest of the bible.  The notes, or annotations, are invaluable in interpreting the particular language used, drawing attention to meaning and sources of references in the text.  For example, Revelation is chock full of Old Testament references which might be missed without the annotations.

Commentaries I find useful include*:

The Oxford Bible Commentary

Theological Bible Commentary, O'Day & Petersen

An Introduction to the New Testament, Raymond Brown

And if you are excited by this study and have not done so, please consider signing up for Education for Ministry, where you can study scripture in a group, using materials developed by the University of the South at Sewanee.

Now back to our regularly scheduled comments.

What are we to make of Revelation?

We get a clue to the difficulty we have in understanding this book by looking at its other name:  "Apocalypse," which means revelation.  Apocalyptic literature is a special genre that is characterized by visions mediated by a heavenly being.  The visions often are interpreted to refer to current events and circumstances, but with a cosmic, decisive judgement at the end.  We are somewhat more accustomed to prophetic literature, in which the prophet (e.g., Amos or Micah or Isaiah) interprets the current situation as being against God's will or leading to some outcome, but such literature lacks the overarching cosmic view.

In Revelation we will see what John was shown (note how often words related to "see" show up in these passages).  The overarching theme is God's sovereignty, God's victory in Christ over the evil in the world, and the coming of a "New Jerusalem".

At the beginning of Revelation we are introduced to John who will relate what he was shown by Jesus Christ, mediated by an angel.

This John probably is not the same as the author of the Gospel of John, according to scholars.  His language and in some cases his emphasis is different, although he may have come from the Johannine community.  Rather the author is often referred to as John of Patmos, based on his location on an island in the Aegean sea, just off present day Turkey.

In the first chapter we are introduced to the first vision John has of Jesus, and to the first subject of the book, the letters to the seven churches.

12 Then I turned to see whose voice it was that spoke to me, and on turning I saw seven golden lampstands, 13and in the midst of the lampstands I saw one like the Son of Man, clothed with a long robe and with a golden sash across his chest. 14His head and his hair were white as white wool, white as snow; his eyes were like a flame of fire, 15his feet were like burnished bronze, refined as in a furnace, and his voice was like the sound of many waters. 16In his right hand he held seven stars, and from his mouth came a sharp, two-edged sword, and his face was like the sun shining with full force.

Jesus with seven lampstands, seven stars

All I can say is, you ain't seen nothin' yet!

*If you don't have a commentary, you might be interested in these on-line introductions to Revelation:

Understanding the Book of Revelation (PBS)

Wikipedia:  Book of Revelation  You may especially be interested in the section on Interpretation, and the various "Religious Views" discussed.