Day 90: The Millenium, The New Heaven and Earth, The End

So an angel comes down from heaven with a key, and the angel chains Satan in the abyss for a thousand years.

And there is one thousand years of peace, when the saints reign with Christ.

Ever heard of "the millennium"?  Right here in Revelation, Chapter 20, is the millennium, the thousand-year reign of Christ.

There are several schools of thought about the millennium.  Some people believe that there will be a literal 1,000 year reign of Christ.  The pre-millennial view is that Christ will come before the thousand year reign, and that he will take believers away (rapture) before the tribulations.  The "post-millennial view" is that Christ will come at the end of the 1,000 years, a time of peace (maybe not a literal thousand years) during which most people will become Christian.

Others (including most Lutherans, by the way) believe that the millennium is not literal, but that the 1,000 years represent the entire church age.  "Amillenialism teaches that good and evil, the kingdom of God and the kingdom of Satan, develop simultaneously and grow until the end of this age."  (this sentence is from an old book on The Revelation by Esther Onstad, "Courage for Today/Hope for Tomorrow."

At the end of the 1,000 years, Satan is loosed again briefly, and then, the new heaven and the new earth arrive.  God will dwell with God's people in a new creation that is what God intended in the first place. There is no longer any death or darkness, the holy city is replendent with jewels and wealth, and God will wipe away every tear from the eyes of those who have suffered and have been persecuted and have been vilified in this life.

So the basic message of the book of Revelation is this:  even when the world looks darkest and most frightening, even when God's people are being persecuted and killed, the victory belongs to God and the Lamb.

At the very end of the book of Revelation, the Prayer is this:

Come, Lord Jesus.

Day 85: Visions of Heaven and Earth

So, in Revelation, chapter 4, we start getting into the nitty-gritty of John's vision.  (One of my friends says that she's not sure what John was smoking, and yes, what he sees is strange, but....) Please note that the vision begins in heaven, not earth.   When we think of the book of Revelation and its visions of destruction, it's important to remember that there are other, alternating visions as well:  visions of worship, visions of the throne of the Lamb.  Those visions are just as important as the other ones (perhaps more so).

So the scene opens with the throne of God (and seven of all sorts of things again).  If you can close your eyes and imagine, it's not only strange, but awesome, with a rainbow like an emerald, and a sea of glass.  There are worshipping creatures around the throne, and they are singing "Holy, Holy, Holy"  (sound familiar?)  Many of our hymns come from the book of Revelation.

In chapter 5 there is a scroll to be opened, and no one worthy to open it.  John weeps.  But wait!  There is one who is found worthy to open the scroll!  The "Lion of Judah, the Root of David" (hint:  Jesus) is worthy because he has been victorious. And the Lion, the Root, steps forward, and guess what?  It is a Lamb.

Hey!  Here's a nice aside:  There are twenty-four elders, each holding a golden bowl of incense, and the bowls represent the prayers of the saints.  Somehow I like that, but I like metaphors.  "Let my prayer rise before you as incense..."

Anyway, at seeing the Lamb, everyone breaks into song again,  "Worthy is the Lamb who was slain..." (again, sound familiar?)

And then the Lamb opens the seven seals ..... and then, literally, "all hell breaks loose."  With each seal comes a new plague.  (Have you ever heard of "the four horsemen of the apocalypse?"  Here's where they cone from.  The first horseman is on a white horse, so some people think he represents goodness, but most believe that since, the other four are all negative, that first horseman represents false messiahs. The other horsemen are war, famine and death.  Some people think that these represent special forces let loose at the end times.  But others (and I am one of them) would like to point out that all of these things:  false messiahs, famine, war and death, exist in every time and place.

So, a whole bunch of bad stuff is happening.  Six of the seven seals have been opened.

And then we switch, and again we see visions of heaven.  There are the 144,000 (okay, this is not a literal number, but it is 12 X 12 X 1,000, which is a way of saying the fullness of those who will be saved -- and remember that !2 is the number of the tribes of Israel and of the disciples).

And again, there is worshipping.  Especially the people who are worshipping are those who have come through persecution.

Chapter seven closes with a promise:  "He will wipe away every tear from their eyes."

Some people say that the only people who can really understand the book of Revelation are those who are being persecuted,* because the book was written for Christians who were being persecuted.  It was written to remind them that no matter how bad things are, no matter how bad things get, God is still in charge, will protect and vindicate them.  The one who rose from the dead is still victorious.

If we cut through the strange visions and just look for the core, "God will wipe away every tear from their eyes" comes up more than once.

*and by persecution, I don't mean having to listen to people say "Happy Holidays" instead of "Merry Christmas.  I don't mean not being able to pray in school, or having atheists make fun of your faith, although I'm not taking that lightly.  I'm reserving persecution to mean "persecution"  -- being imprisoned, tortured, abused, oppressed for confessing and living your faith.

Day 84: The last Book of the Bible -- love it or hate it

The Book of Revelation (notice the singular) elicits strong reactions -- some people are absolutely fascinated by this book, its strangeness, the visions, and the violence.  Maybe it's the fact that it seems like a code they have to crack is what hooks them; perhaps it's the idea that this books holds keys (sort of like Nostradamus) to the end of the world.

There are others that think that the last book of the Bible for a reason.  It is the last book they are interested in reading.  A couple of years ago when I  offered a course in Revelation to our adult forum during the winter, a few extra people showed up -- but one of our Bible presenters, a retired pastor and great theologian, asked me, "Why are we studying THAT?"

Yet, here we are, and I hope that along the way we can clear up a few misconceptions about that book. There are things to be decoded in it, and there are things that (contrary to what you may have heard) cannot be decoded.  They were written in the way they were to hide them from Roman persecutors; the book of Revelation was written to give hope to persecuted Christians, without giving away too much information to those who were persecuting them.  It is a form of literature called "Apocalyptic", which is not so common in the Bible, but does exist, in a few places (Matthew, Mark and Luke all have short apocalyptic sections, and the Old Testament book of Daniel is known as apocalyptic literature.)   The word "apocalypse" means "revelation", and it does have to do with visions of the end of the world.  Usually this literature was written in a time of persecution, when the people also did not have much power.  Prophets also interpreted the present and the future, and often called the people to repentance and hope.  Apocalyptic prophets preached God's defeat of their enemies and ultimate victory.

That being said, the first three chapters of the Revelation are also a letter, aren't they?  Like all of the other letters that precede this one, John (on Patmos) writes, not to individuals but to churches, seven churches in particular.  He is writing both to encourage and to admonish them, and he has specific words for each church.   Ephesus has lost their first love,  Smyrna is going to suffer, but God will give the the crown of life.  Pergamum is holding on, but some follow "Balaam's teaching" (whatever that is).  Thyatira has done great works, but has also put up with Jezebel, Sardis thinks it is alive, but is dead.  Philadelphia has been faithful and will be protected through a time of persecution.  And then there's the church at Laodicea -- they think they're rich, but they are really miserable.  They are lukewarm, neither hot nor cold.

A few little things to notice:  each congregation has an angel.  the message is to the angel of the church.
One of the most famous verse in the Bible, "Behold, I stand at the door and knock" is, in fact written to that seventh church, the one at Laodicea.  It is a part of their call to repentance.

The figure that John sees at the beginning of the vision (with the hair white as well) is very similar to a figure in the book of Daniel, the "ancient of days."

Notice all the sevens.  Seven stars, seven churches, seven lampstands.  There are a lot of interesting things with numbers in this book.  The number 7 recurs (this is the number of perfection or completeness in Hebrew numerology).  So, are there really SEVEN churches, are is seven a number indicating John means ALL the churches?

Whatever the answer, this much is for all of us:  "If you can hear, listen to what the Spirit is saying to the churches."  And know that the strange words of Revelation has really, two purposes:  to cause us to repent, and to give us courage.

What comes next will be easy to hear, but not always to easy to understand.....