Trying to Keep Your Balance: Preaching the Revelation—Some Reflections (Part 4 of 5)
Having discussed the use of symbolism in part three, we come now to the what many consider to be most difficult feature of the book to understand, the way the book is organized. Symbolism is relatively easy when compared to analyzing the book’s structure, at least to some.
IV. CONSIDER THE STRUCTURE OF THE BOOK
Revelation is a notoriously difficult book to analyze structurally. There really is no parallel to it in the Bible. (It is acknowledged, by the way, that two other writings by John, the Gospel and the First Letter are difficult to outline).
There are three areas where we need to strive to keep the balance.
A. We need to keep the balance between the visual and the aural. Revelation’s message is to be both seen and heard. Time and again we read such phrases as “I heard” (nearly 30 times) or “I saw,” (more than 50 times). The Hebrews were called to worship with the words: “Hear, O Israel” . . . And John continues that tradition:
“Blessed is the one who hears and obeys . . . I heard . . . The one who has ears to hear, let that one hear . . .”
Preaching, the Revelation is like music: it is meant to be heard. Even though Revelation’s message appears to lean towards visions, in reality they, too, are heard. Yet do not minimize what is seen.
Perhaps we could say that the visions are like stage scenery. They may enhance the drama or they may so dazzle the viewer that we do not “hear” the lines being spoken. They get our attention: they move us to wonder, they overpower us with a sense of the supernatural and transcendent. But the word pictures do not convey the message alone. Beware of explaining the props to the audience and rob them of the plot. Often what is seen is explained (Rev. 1:20; 13:8; 17:9-18; 19:8; 20:4-6). But what is seen and what is heard are meant to provide either comfort or challenge.
B. We need to keep the balance between the earth and heaven. Pay close attention to the movement between heaven and earth and you will find unlocked some key truths. In one of your early readings of Revelation, ask of each paragraph the question: Is the scene in heaven or on earth or a mixture? This is incredibly illuminating.
Take Revelation 4 and the theme of worship. Heavenly perspective often helps us make it through this life. What is going on in God’s presence needs to go on while we live on earth. Or consider Revelation 12, the first half taking place on earth and the second in heaven, but both concurrently, and both emphasizing the defeat of the Dragon. Or take Rev. 20:1-15, which moves back and forth between heaven and earth, with the implication that the paragraph about the saints reigning for a thousand years does not take place on earth but in heaven and therefore is a word of encouragement: those who die faithfully will reign with Christ upon their death! (20:1-3 on earth; 20:4-6 in heaven; 20:7-10 on earth; 20:11-15 before God since heaven and earth have passed away)
C. We need to keep the balance between the sequential and the spiral. Failure to understand this aspect has led to much misunderstanding. Many people think that Revelation is like reading a novel; the story begins and continues on a straight line. Of course, there is a degree of sequence in the book. There is a beginning and an end and John moves from the first coming of Christ to the final, to be sure. But he does so time and again. It is the in-between that creates some confusion.
There is a spiral-like effect. One definition of spiral is “advancement to higher levels through a series of cyclical movements.” Although we usually visualize a spiral as circular, we can actually have points of contact that are at the opposite ends of a cycle. In Revelation John moves back and forth from the present to the future, from his day (or ours) to the end of the world.
Consider the relationship between the seven seals, trumpets and bowls. It appears that each set of seven leads the reader up to the final coming of Christ which results in the punishment of the wicked and the rewarding of the saints (6:12f.; 11:15f.; 16:17f; cf. 14:14f.;19:6f; 20:11f.).
John is not a chronologist. For example, the trumpets do not necessarily follow the seals in strict chronological order. It may help us to see John as a composer. His Theme—a message of judgment and hope—is stated and then restated in different ways. If John’s Theme is the end of the world, then each series of seven is a Variation that adds to the composition. Each one heightens and intensifies the final, climactic confrontation between God and the forces of evil. There is intensity as the piece progresses (with the opening of the seven seals, one fourth of the earth is affected; with the seven trumpets, one third and with the seven bowls, all).
Each series of seven moves the reader closer to the end not because each follows the preceding series in a purely chronological sense but because each heightens and intensifies the final and climactic confrontation between God and his people and Satan and his allies. Moreover, there are interludes between the sixth and seventh categories, the one in Rev. 7 showing security of God’s people, the one in 10 and 11 showing the responsibility of God’s people, and the brief one in 16 emphasizing the watchfulness of God’s people.
It is the theological message, not a strict chronology, that really counts. The seals remind us that evil exists only by permission from God. The trumpets call people to repentance. The bowls emphasize God’s complete judgment of evil. Thus, the various series offer visions of world history from the ascension of Christ to the end of the world, looking at the world from different viewpoints and gradually building up to the end of the world and the new heaven and new earth.
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