Revelations from Revelation 3: apocalyptic literature

If you've been following my posts, you should know that the Bible was not written to you, though you may certainly benefit from it. You should also be aware that The Revelation was not written in a style still used in modern times. For me, it is somewhat like modern art; though I may find it interesting, I struggle to draw any meaning from a series of random lines and dots. Many people are fascinated by the images in Revelation, and yet it does little to affect their lives. I want to help you be affected by this intense, challenging, and ultimately hope-filled letter.

Even without background, you should notice that the first three chapters of The Revelation are markedly different from the remainder of John's letter. Chapter 1 is an introduction, and chapters 2 and 3 are letters to seven specific churches. I will not discuss these first 3 chapters until we jump in to the text.

(Much of the following information comes from a book called "Breaking the Code: Understanding the Book of Revelation," by Bruce M. Metzger, Professor of New Testament Language and Literature, emeritus, at Princeton Theological Seminary.)

The title of the last book of the New Testament is transliterated from the Greek as Apokalypsis Ioannou, meaning Revelation of John. The genre of chapters 4-22 is generally referred to as an Apocalypse. John's Apocalypse may be the most famous example of the genre, but it is certainly not the only. Apocalypses are most common in Judaism from approximately 200 B.C. to 200 A. D. Other Biblical writings in a similar genre occur in Daniel, Isaiah, and Zechariah. That the genre is rooted in Judaism will become very important as we work through John's visions, because close to 3/4 of The Revelation's verses contain allusions to the Old Testament.

So, what features are common to these Jewish Apocalypses? One feature, pointed out by Metzger, is the frequent use of symbolism. The number seven has nearly always been associated with completion and perfection, and John uses it constantly. In chapter 6, scholars place great importance on the bow carried by the white horse's rider, because it would have immediately made John's readers think of the Parthians, who were well known for their use of the bow and arrow and for representing themselves with the color white.

Another feature of Apocalyptic literature is using descriptions of the end of time to demonstrate that earthly struggles are temporary. Paul, likewise, describes himself in Philippians 3:13 as one who is "forgetting what lies behind and straining forward to what lies ahead," because, as he describes in v. 20, "our citizenship is in heaven." Paul echoed this in 2 Corinthians 4:17, saying, "For this light momentary affliction is preparing for us an eternal weight of glory." In fact, you would certainly have difficulty finding a letter in the New Testament where immediate suffering is not contrasted with a hopeful future. Yet, no other New Testament letter spends 22 chapters emphasizing Christian hope and calling for endurance.

With all that said, we CANNOT simply read The Revelation is if it were a newspaper article describing events in detail. In fact, it is more similar to poetry than to a narrative story. John's writing is meant to inspire hope, to challenge you to endure, to demonstrate God's holiness in Judgment, to lead the lost to repentance, and to create lasting images of a glorious future. However, The Revelation is NOT a time-line of the "end times."

John is writing about a vision. Thus, his descriptions are "of symbols, not the reality conveyed by the symbols." (Metzger, p. 14) Much like the dreams that Joseph interpreted in Genesis, Ezekiel's valley of dry bones, and Peter's vision in Acts 10 of a blanket full of animals, John's visions represent something. Peter, for example, did not leave his room and tell the others that animals were going to begin riding in from the sky on blankets. No. He realized from his vision that even as a Jewish Christian, he was no longer restricted to eating kosher foods. That was the reality that the symbols conveyed. Likewise, we cannot read The Revelation and say that 4 literal horsemen will pillage the earth for a certain period of time, nor would we assume John believes that Jesus will literally turn in to a baby sheep.

Needless to say, John's Revelation leaves the reader with a lot of work to do. Unfortunately, we can take nothing at face value. But, with hard work comes reward, and I passionately believe that studying The Revelation is worth the reward.

In my next post, I plan to begin exegesis (drawing meaning "out" instead of looking for justification for what we ALREADY believe by reading our own ideas "in" to the text) of John's introduction.

-Matt

My Little Runaway

This is our newest family member, Jake. Emily and I adopted him from a pound in Arkansas a little over a month ago. I'm a big fan of pet adoption, especially after visiting the pound to pick him up. It was heartbreaking. Anyway, I'm not sure why, but Jake is a whole different animal whenever he sees a leash. He goes nuts! So, the other day, he escaped from our backyard right before a walk. I know on the scale of life events, it's probably not that big of a deal. But, I really love my dogs, and would have been broken if we hadn't found him.

So, I do my best to learn from my life experiences, big and small. And, I know that the pain associated with losing a pet is minuscule to that of a child. However, I found myself really identifying with the father (God) in the parable of the prodigal son. I was honestly kind of offended that Jake ran away. We provide a great home with love, food, shelter, fun, exercise, discipline, adventure and everything a dog could ever want. So, I can't imagine why he would want to leave. And I thought, "Look at all that God offers me, and yet I, too, think there's something better on the other side of the fence." The prodigal son had everything he could ask for, but bailed on his family to party it up and run his life in to the ground.

One of the aspects of this experience with Jake that I'm most thankful for is that I'm the one who found him. Yes, I wanted to be furious with him for stressing us all out, but when I saw him walking around, I was elated. I yelled his name and he came. I picked him up and noticed that he was very wet and very muddy (still not sure where he visited during his hour of "freedom"). But all I wanted was for him to be safe with me, so I didn't even bother setting him down to let him in the backseat where blankets would keep him from making my car a mess. No, I threw him through my open, passenger-seat window, where he proceeded to rub his muddy body all over my nice, somewhat clean car. But, I didn't care about the mess, and I couldn't feel angry.

I think for that moment, my life was a parable of the love and grace of God. Like the prodigal's father (God), I called out to my wayward son/dog. When he heard me and came toward me, all I cared about was being with him again. I DID run to him. I DID willingly embrace and accept him in all his filthiness. I DID just simply long to be WITH him again. And for the first time, I understood why the prodigal's father didn't beat his son immediately.

And after we'd been home a while, I beat him. Not really. But, I wanted to. I'm not saying God feels THAT way. But, I did.

I have a feeling I'm going to learn a lot when I have an actual child. Scary.

-Matt

Revelations from Revelation 2: approaching John's letter

In my previous post, I said that the Bible was not written to you and, yet, there are numerous levels of meaning to draw from God's word. With that said, I concede that there are parts of the Bible that require little background to enable appropriate interpretation. For example, in 1 Thessalonians 5:16ff NIV ("ff" means "and following verses"), Paul writes "Be joyful always; pray continually; give thanks in all circumstances, for this is God's will for you in Christ Jesus." In these verses, Paul gives us straightforward imperatives that do not require an extensive knowledge of the Hebrew scriptures, nor a detailed description of the situation in Thessalonica. (Yet, even in these verses there is interpretive work to be done. Are Paul's commands literal or hyperbolic? If they are literal, how do you "pray continually?" What exactly is "joy," because it's often treated as a synonym of "happy," and I certainly don't feel happy at all times.)

My point is that some scriptures are simpler than others, so they require less work as an interpreter. However, there are other scriptures that are difficult for various reasons. In my last post, I mentioned that we tend to avoid a lot of the Old Testament, Hebrews, and The Revelation because they are difficult.

The Old Testament is difficult because you cannot take even the forthright commands at face value. The Old Testament must ALWAYS be interpreted through the lens of the New Testament. In Mark 7:10ff, Jesus reinstates one of the Ten Commandments: to honor one's father and mother. Just a few chapters earlier, though, he allowed his disciples to harvest on the Sabbath, which was strictly forbidden in Exodus by none other than God Himself. (see Mark 2:23 - 28 in relation to Exodus 34:21 where God tells Moses, "Six days you shall labor, but on the seventh day you shall rest; even during the plowing season and harvest you must rest." So, picking heads of grain as an act of harvesting is forbidden by the law.) So, when we read Exodus, for instance, we believe that the fifth commandment in Exodus 20:12, honoring one's parents, applies to us, but the Sabbath commandment in Exodus 34:21 does not.

The book of Hebrews is also difficult simply because you must approach it with a comprehensive understanding of Jewish practices, including priestly roles and the nature and purpose of animal sacrifices.

The reason The Revelation is difficult to interpret is that it is not written in a style familiar to us. I'm not a big fan of Shakespeare, because I am not educated enough in his style and manner of writing to understand his meaning. In "All's Well That Ends Well," Helena says, "Oft expectation fails, and most oft there." Trying to make sense of this phrase taken out of context and with little understanding of the genre of literature is just as difficult as interpreting a verse or chapter from The Revelation without proper understanding of context and the literary genre of an Apocalypse. Each is quite baffling without some background.

Reading this, you might be shouting, "Get to the text!" To you impatient reader, I humbly ask you to trust that we are drawing a road map to lead us through this puzzling letter. I'm trying to keep each post reasonably short, so I will postpone the actual discussion of The Revelation's genre until my next post.

I'm sure you're waiting in anticipation.

-Matt

Revelations from Revelation

For the first time in my life, I am studying through the book of Revelation (yes, it is singular). There are several parts of the Bible that are easy to avoid, such as The Revelation, Hebrews, and the entire Old Testament. Unfortunately, that leaves us incomplete as Christians who believe that the ENTIRE Bible is God's word. Yet, I do understand that this specific book is quite overwhelming and widely misinterpreted.

As far as the misinterpretations go, I want to first say that I don't believe that I am right and everyone else is wrong. As a teacher of scripture, I believe that is the wrong way to approach even this blog. I'm not going to intentionally demean those who hold opposing views, nor am I going to do injustice to their interpretations. With that said, the interpretations that I make are what I confidently believe at this point in my life based on my limited education, experience, and interpretive abilities.

With the disclaimers out of the way, I want to quickly discuss one vital hermeneutic (rule of Biblical study). Contrary to popular belief, the Bible was not written to you. It truly wasn't. You are not a first-century Jew or Greek. You don't come from a pre-enlightenment era (which does not mean they were stupider, but simply that they approach life in a different way). And so, the way you approach a book like The Revelation is naturally going to be drastically different than those to whom John wrote. Your worldview is not a bad thing, so I'm not necessarily telling you to think like them in your every day life. But, you cannot understand the themes and messages of this book without trading your worldview for theirs while you study The Revelation.

So, The Revelation was not written to you, but you can definitely benefit from studying this incredible piece of holy literature. Otherwise, I wouldn't be writing this at all.

More to come...
-Matt

My First Blog

Gee, this is exciting. Here are my intentions: to post my revelations about the bible, to share my somewhat limited life experiences, and to simply write more. I'm hoping this blog will drive me to improve upon my written communication skills, so that my other writing ventures will be more polished. By the way I will probably post a lot of pictures of my family... Emily, Willy, and Jake.