Revelations from Revelation 6: chapter 1, verses 2-3

From verse one, we learned that there is a chain of revelation taking place: God to Jesus to John to the reader/hearer (I hesitate to simply consider John's audience as readers because only since the reformation and printing press has the Church been able to read the Bible more than hearing it]. John's role is that of a witness, not interpreter. The distinction between witness and interpreter is absolutely vital to the way John's words are interpreted. The author is describing a vision instead of interpreting the meaning of what he saw and heard. I might open up a newspaper and see an illustration of a donkey fighting an elephant. If I'm fulfilling the role of witness, I'd tell you that I saw a donkey and elephant fighting. On the other hand, acting as interpreter, I might tell you that Republicans and Democrats are at one anothers' throats again. Thus, John is the cartoonist who leaves interpretation up to his audience.

Verse three provides John's first of seven beatitudes, or blessings. Earlier I mentioned this briefly, but the number seven is a common literary device used to symbolize perfection and completeness. In The Revelation, there are seven beatitudes, churches, spirits, trumpets, thunders, signs, crowns, plagues, golden bowls, hills, kings, etc. The apocalyptic nature of this book forces us to be very careful with such figures that can be either literal or symbolic, or possibly fall somewhere on a spectrum between the two. I know few Christians who literally forgive others 70 X 7 times and then refuse to show grace on the 491st time. Likewise, I don't hesitate to roll my eyes when I hear a well-meaning but misinformed Christian say something to the effect of "God's Word says it, so I believe it," in the sense that the Bible is void of figurative language. The Bible is stuffed to the brim with poetry, prophecy, metaphor, parable, and even sarcasm. So, while I believe that God is able to speak through the Bible to people of all cognitive levels, it is also the richest and most brilliant literature in the world, inspired by the ultimate Force of creativity and genius, God.

With that in mind, the first blessing is to the ones who READ ALOUD and HEAR John's prophecy [again, indicative of the first century audience who would have had this letter read in church services]. But simply hearing is not enough because that act is inseparably linked to keeping or heeding the prophetic message. One would do well to note that the author, John, believes himself to be a prophet. In spite of modern connotations, a prophet is not simply someone who predicts the future . In fact, the simplest definition might be one who communicates on behalf of God. While this definition risks being too simplistic, the point to be made is that John is not seeking to document a strange dream, or share an interesting story with friends. He believes he is communicating the very word of God. And God's word must be heard and kept in order to be a blessing in one's life. Interestingly, I'm amazed that Christians often treat this powerful and emotional book as if it were no more than a time-line for the end of the world with no practicality for today. No matter how you interpret the millennium or the anti-christ, I would challenge you not to miss the messages of God's love and activity in the lives of his people and the call to persevere in spite of fiery suffering. The Revelation is not a time-line but a highly visual sermon with numerous points of application.

The reason to hear and keep this prophecy is that "the time is near." The word used here is kairos in Greek, which connotes a special, appointed time [as opposed to chronos, meaning a span of time]. The question is to what does the appointed time refer? It's as if the timer is counting down, but the reader is not sure what will happen when the clock strikes midnight. Does John refer to the end of the world being near in time? If so, he either has a very loose definition of "near," or was mistaken. On the other hand, it certainly wouldn't be inappropriate to say that any point in time is "near" to a timeless, infinite God. Another possibility is that the appointed time for God's intervention in the situations of the suffering is near. Persecuted and frightened Christians need only hold on to their faith for a short time before God intervenes. Those who see a number of The Revelation's events as fulfilled during the lifetime of John's original audience might simply see prophetic fulfillment as being near in chronological time. However one takes John's statement, one thing that remains clear is that God will act, and a call to endure and to maintain hope is surely implicit in light of such truth.

As a point of "application," I would encourage you to approach this book, as you hopefully do all scripture, with an attitude of readiness to live out what you read. If you are not prepared to think in the way you will be told to think and act in the ways you will be told to act, then reading The Revelation will be little more than an intellectual exercise. Scripture must always be approached with an anticipation of personal life change.

We will continue through chapter one in my next post. Enjoy!

-Matt