Robert Lowery

September 2007 marks the anniversary of this website. As another year of postings begins I am grateful to announce that Michael Gowin (my outstanding manager of the website), and I have decided to continue offering reflections for the coming year. I wrestled with whether or not I should do so because the site takes a bit of our time in the midst of very busy schedules. The domain was recently renewed and many postings are in the works. Having made the decision to continue the site, let me express thanks to . . .

You who visit the site on regular and irregular occasions. I pray that you have found it instructive and encouraging. Feel free to continue visiting as often as you can and please do not hesitate to post your own observations.

My students, at home and abroad, and to congregations where I preach and teach who continue to stretch me by their observations and questions. We all are a part of a community of disciples of Jesus who are committed to lifelong learning and lifelong obedience.

My colleagues in the seminary who have encouraged me as I continue teaching and serving as one of the two deans of Lincoln Christian Seminary. I am blessed to serve in such a community of higher education.

My family who know just the right moments to encourage or to humble me. My wife, children and their spouses, and, even indirectly, my two grandchildren, Jocelyn and Carissa, have been patient with me for I can be quite preoccupied and intense at times.

My colleague, Michael Gowin, who is patient with me as I submit at times too many or too few potential entries or entries too long or too brief. He has made invaluable suggestions, enough for several more postings.

My God who saved me so many years ago and has sustained me through this last year through many ups and downs.

May we all continue to grow in God’s grace and truth.

I love talking to Russ, the man who currently keeps clean the building where I teach and where my office is located. Sometimes we chat just for a few minutes, and when he asks me a question about Scripture, it is almost always a profound one, and he is always kind and gracious when he asks. And he is teachable.

Today was no different. Russ and I were standing in the hallway, him with mop in hand and me with pen in hand, talking about the Book of Revelation. His question: Do you really think that the people in John’s day understood what he wrote? Do you really think that the people in the days of other biblical prophets like Isaiah and Jeremiah and Daniel understood what these spokesmen for God penned? “Yes, I am convinced they knew for the most part what the prophets preached and taught. That doesn’t mean they understood everything or even wanted to hear everything, let alone obey everything.”

I then told Russ (he probably thinks I never have a short answer to a question) that far too many preachers and teachers today try to put John in our shoes rather than we put ourselves in John’s shoes. If we do the former, we will miss the point of the prophetic message. I gave this illustration. In John’s day, the Roman emperor was viewed as a god and temples were built in his honor (see pp. 53ff. of Revelation’s Rhapsody for more information. I believe that is the situation behind Revelation 13 where Christians were being forced to worship the emperor’s image or die. Far too often preachers today ignore John’s days; they don’t walk in his shoes and see how the message would have spoken to him and John’s fellow followers of Jesus.

I shared with Russ that in 2005 I took some of my students to Turkey. One day we visited the ruins of Pergamum, a city “where Satan has his throne” (see Rev. 2:12ff.). Most scholars believe that Jesus through John was speaking about the pagan religions that dominated city life. On the acropolis of Pergamum, my students saw the remains of the altar of Zeus and the magnificent ruins of a temple dedicated to the worship of the Roman emperor as a god. I shared with them some information about the power of the emperor’s cult. I asked them: Can you imagine what it would have been like to have been part of a small gathering of Christians who were expected to pledge their ultimate allegiance to Jesus when the overwhelming majority of Pergamum’s citizens would have been attending “church” services at the altar or in the temple precincts? I hope that because of that visit on a beautiful January day my students understood more clearly the pressures the earliest Christians in Asia Minor faced. We had come about as close as possible of standing in John’s shoes.

We have to walk in John’s (or Isaiah’s or Daniel’s or Jeremiah’s) shoes if were are to understand their messages and apply them to us today. We must not force John to walk in our shoes. Once we walk in his shoes, then we can wear his as we walk through this world, evaluating it from “heaven’s perspective,” knowing what we should be doing as God’s faithful servants today while waiting the coming of a new day.

Now even to use the title of this entry “Putting Ourselves in John’s Shoes,” shows that I use an image that John would not have been familiar with. A more accurate title would be: “Putting Ourselves in John’s Sandals.”

Near the end of our conversation, he asked me this: Isn’t there a problem with those preachers today who use the book of Revelation to predict the future and the problem is not only are they wrong but they are not held accountable? Another perceptive question, Russ. But my answer on this website is for another day.

NOTE: Since this post has special formatting, the first paragraph is posted here. The entire document may be downloaded at the link below.

When interpreting any symbol in Revelation, we must evaluate the images in light of layers of context: (a) The symbol may be a part of a cluster of symbols when taken together the sum is greater than the parts ; (b) The symbol, perhaps as part of a cluster of symbols, must be interpreted in light of the larger unit(s) in which it appears; and (c) The symbol’s contribution to the overall context of Revelation must be discerned (For example, often a symbol in one passage surfaces again in a later passage, perhaps more fully developed.). The purpose of this essay is not to provide answers, but I want to elaborate on a methodology for studying symbols by using the images found in Rev. 7:1ff. as a case study.

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