It seems everyone has their own idea about John's Apocalypse. What's sad is the people who most vociferously quote his warning about adding to the meaning of the book are those most likely to transgress it. Does everyone forget? John was a Hebrew man following Christ, who happened to be a Hebrew Messiah. The Hebrew people were meant to be God's message to the fallen world, chosen to reveal Him by the testimony of their life under the Law of Moses. They failed; they rejected that Law. By the time they realized the utter necessity of embracing it, they no longer understood it. They rejected the teaching of Jesus to bring them back to a clear understanding of it. So Jesus fulfilled the mission of Israel, by first fulfilling the Law of Moses. When He died on the Cross, Moses was complete, retired, ended. The right to claim the name "Israel" fell upon Jesus alone. He applied it to His followers alone, according to Paul. John's Apocalypse is called "The Revelation of Jesus Christ" -- another form of the gospel message.
John's Gospel tells the story of Jesus as a spiritual King claiming His domain. He only accepted volunteers as citizens, those who embraced His Covenant of Spirit. Revelation is the spiritual explanation of Jesus, not as to His teachings and actions, but as to His nature. As we have seen, no one can explain the Spirit Realm in human terms, so we use parable to indicate the Truth too great for words. The Apocalypse is parable first, a revelation of how God operates in this world.
At no place in the book does John propose to tell the future in concrete terms. Rather, he stands as the very last living member of the apostolic band of twelve who walked with Jesus as a close disciple. Among the Twelve, John knew Him best on a human level, Jesus' closest pal. He was uniquely qualified to reveal Jesus to the world on His own terms. During a time of suffering, John fled into the Spirit Realm where things really mattered, leaving his fleshly life behind the in Lower Realm. In this condition, John saw a vision of heavenly things, things which no human tongue can tell. Using the only thing John knew from his life as a true Hebrew of God, he revealed in parable what was coming during that time between his own fleshly demise and the end of this world as we know it. John saw the world as we must know it; he wrote this message to his churches so they would know how to live after he died. If we do not grasp what he was telling his congregation for their lives in that day, we have zero comprehension of the book.
He begins by measuring some churches over which he was Senior Pastor, pointing out their strengths and weaknesses to symbolize for all time the many ways a congregation can go wrong or right. Real churches, real flaws, symbolic meaning. He then describes things in Heaven with a focus on what matters to believers living here below. He then describes how God would act in this world in the coming space of time before the Lord's return -- during that whole time, not just one tiny slice of it. He tells us three times over how sin would increase, God's wrath would increase, and hearts would harden yet more. It's a series of conceptual revelations repeating in a cycle three times, each cycle told from a different perspective. There are a mixture of other visions pointing out the context of things in Heaven using the same parabolic-symbolic description. Reading this with an eye to literal meaning is a rejection of what John wrote. It is demanding something John could not and would not have offered.
There are no secret clues; there is a large body of parabolic literature in the Old Testament offering plenty of explanation. That explanation remains out of reach until you understand the culture from which it arises. Some things you need to understand about Hebrew writing:
Finally, it's critical to understand John pointed out for his readers how utterly unreliable is human government. The only thing you can count is government running from bad to worse, and your problems with government and society at large will only get worse as your holiness increases. Not just the Rome of John's day, but every government in human history has rejected God's demand to obey Noah's Covenant. Instead, they always have, and always will, reject such constraints. In the end, government will strive to compromise the church. Government loves nothing but power, and will attempt to take the place of God at every opportunity. It will always ally with Babylon, the worldly merchant kingdom of evil. Materialism is the path to failure for every believer. Never trust anything anchored in this Lower Realm.
The Book of Revelation is John's Other Gospel. It is so intensely other-worldly, it's hard to imagine how so many who claim the name of Jesus demand we read it with a worldly understanding.
Return to Bible Literacy Index
[<-- Previous]
[Next -->]
By Ed Hurst
21 May 2009
COPYRIGHT NOTICE: People of honor need no copyright laws; they are only too happy to give credit where credit is due. Others will ignore copyright laws whenever they please. If you are of the latter, please note what Moses said about dishonorable behavior -- "be sure your sin will find you out" (Numbers 32:23)