Once every 2-4 months, we have an informal evening service in Kemsing under the name of "Digging Deeper". We sing a few songs, and say a few prayers, but most of our time is devoted to taking some topic addressed by the Bible and digging deeper together in what the Bible says. We've thought about the Trinity before, and we've thought about the inspiration of Scripture. Last night, we considered our hope as Christians - where is history heading, what is our part in it, and how certain can we be?
These sessions are a mixture of talk and discussion. We could not cover everything in 40 minutes, so we looked together at Revelation 21:1-8 to see what this had to contribute to the subject of Christian hope. The result was a stimulating discussion.
One of the topics we strayed into, somewhat inevitably, is how we are to read and understand the book of Revelation. I want to make a plea that it's time we recovered this marvellous 66th book of the Bible.
There's a massive irony here. The book is called "Revelation". It's stated purpose (see Revelation 1:1-3) is to make things clear that are otherwise unknown. Yet, for many Christians, it is the book of the Bible about which they know least (or, at least, the book of the New Testament that they are least familiar with). Instead of clearing the fog and shining light onto life, the book of Revelation appears (for many people) to be shrouded in mists of mystery.
That is a tragedy. The book of Revelation was meant to be understood. It was meant to be lived out, and that requires that it is understood. Like any book, there will be details we are not clear on. That is not the same thing as being unclear on the message of the whole book.
There are historic reasons for this. The book of Revelation has been hijacked down the centuries by minority groups who latch onto obscure details to pursue their own agendas. However, the fact a book of the Bible is the most misused in history does not mean it should become the most disused.
Much of the confusion arises from a failure to respect the type of literature we have. Revelation paints pictures. Its language is highly symbolic. This leads to two mistakes. On the one hand, some people have read the book in a crassly literal way, taking the picture language literally. On the other hand, people have recognised that the language is symbolic and used that as an excuse to invent their own meaning for the symbols. Instead, we should let the Bible interpret the Bible. First and foremost, we let Revelation interpret itself, but we also let the other 65 books shed their light on Revelation. The result is clarity that we can live out.
And specifically the result is a message of hope. Revelation 21:1-8 is the last scene in the last cycle of the book. 21:9-22:21 takes 21:1-8 and puts it into a photocopier with the "enlarge" setting on. We are meant to dwell on these last details as the climax of the book and the climax of history. And we are meant to drink them in until God writes his word of hope onto our hearts.
Here is a word to the thirsty (21:6), and to those who conquer (21:7) in the face of pressures towards lovelessness, false teaching and immorality. It's a message that one day all things will be made new, all evil will be banished, death itself will be destroyed along with its entourage. Most wonderfully of all, God himself will live with us. He's done this before in symbolic ways, and he's done it temporarily as Jesus lived on the earth. When heaven comes down to earth, and the heavens themselves are divided to make this happen, God will live with us in a way that brings all of that to fulfilment.
So, come, drink, conquer - and hope!
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