How do you read Revelation? Is it a mystical document that tells the story of the end of the world? Is it a cryptic document that John uses to clothe his message to struggling Christians? Is it a timeless document that has a mixture of both? And I guess you could have a few other options as well.
I once believed it was a mystical document giving us clues to the end of the world. I have since changed my view. I think John had a particular message to the people of his day. John knew what he was writing and he knew what this vision meant. Once my view
changed the pendulum began to swing too far the other way into a cryptic document that explained events that have very little to do with the future. This is where I am today—tomorrow this might change:
History tends to repeat itself. Therefore, is it possible that Revelation describes relevant history for John’s people but also relevant history for people throughout the centuries? I tend to read Revelation as the ongoing cosmic reconciliation that is taking place with its ultimate culmination in the victory of Christ over all. In a way I think it has the same message that we have been discussing in Ephesians: God redeems broken people and a broken world. It meant that to John’s audience and it means that to us.
Will there be more intense persecution as we close out the chapters of this book and open up the pages of the next? Certainly. Will there be a literal end times Antichrist? Perhaps. Is John foretelling of a one-world economic system? Maybe, but I do not think that Revelation is about John looking into a crystal ball and trying to explain in his terms what he saw. Again, the Book of Revelation, in my opinion, is about “uniting all things in him, things in heaven, and things on earth.”
What do you think?
I once believed it was a mystical document giving us clues to the end of the world. I have since changed my view. I think John had a particular message to the people of his day. John knew what he was writing and he knew what this vision meant. Once my view
changed the pendulum began to swing too far the other way into a cryptic document that explained events that have very little to do with the future. This is where I am today—tomorrow this might change:History tends to repeat itself. Therefore, is it possible that Revelation describes relevant history for John’s people but also relevant history for people throughout the centuries? I tend to read Revelation as the ongoing cosmic reconciliation that is taking place with its ultimate culmination in the victory of Christ over all. In a way I think it has the same message that we have been discussing in Ephesians: God redeems broken people and a broken world. It meant that to John’s audience and it means that to us.
Will there be more intense persecution as we close out the chapters of this book and open up the pages of the next? Certainly. Will there be a literal end times Antichrist? Perhaps. Is John foretelling of a one-world economic system? Maybe, but I do not think that Revelation is about John looking into a crystal ball and trying to explain in his terms what he saw. Again, the Book of Revelation, in my opinion, is about “uniting all things in him, things in heaven, and things on earth.”
What do you think?
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