Week 20 (The Revelation) – Day 1: A Voice & a Vision

Day 96 – A Voice & a Vision – Revelation 1:1-:20

The final week, and what a week it is.  No book in the Bible has caused so much misunderstanding as the Book of Revelation.  Obviously we can’t cover all issues, but I’ll try to hit a few highlights.  This past week we’ve seen the man who “calculated” the date of rapture (As I’ve noted previously, the “rapture” itself involves rather dubious at best interpretation of scripture.)  Thousands of people were duped into crazy actions, and overall, many took the opportunity to paint all followers of Christ as a bunch of loons.  We may be, but not due to the failed calculations of one “prophet” in his own mind.  The point is, our society seems fascinated by this book, yet understands very little of the basic message.

I wanted to quickly discuss the literary genre, which is key to understanding any text.  First, this book is part of a long line of Jewish material fitting the apocalyptic (Greek for revelation) genre.  In fact a Jewish apocalypse (4^th Esdras, which is found in 2^nd Esdras, chapters 3-14 – yes confusing) which came out at almost exactly the same time as this book.  The purpose of this genre is important. This type of writing was meant to give encouragement to suffering faith communities.  It was to bolster faith that no matter the current situation, God would prevail in the end.  So the genre is designed to give hope.  This is the very opposite of the fear seems to drive the fascination.

The first chapter also reveals another central aspect.  Jesus is the main actor.  Many link the book not to Christ but to the “anti-christ”.  Ironically, that term is not even used in the book.

The book is also filled with symbolic language mainly driven by metaphors.  Notice how many times the word like is used, five times in vv 12-16 for example.  Much of this book contains symbolism which we need to understand form the perspective of the time written, then move forward to our own time.  Poring over the details without understanding the context of the time written can cause one to miss the big picture of this book. 

I close with some sage words from David DeSilva regarding how to read Revelation:  “More than needing to be interpreted, Revelation interprets the reality of the audience, showing … the true character…, the true struggle…, the true stakes…, the true nature…” of the world around us.  (Introduction to the New Testament (IVP Academic) p. 889)

In Christ,

Randy