Robert Lowery » Interpretation

Trying to Keep Your Balance: Preaching the Revelation—Some Reflections (Part 5 of 5)

bob — Wed, 17 Feb 2010 12:31:01 +0000

No doubt the book had meaning for the original recipients. After part four our concern as we conclude this series is this: What is the significance of the book for us in the twenty-first century?

V. CONSIDER THE SIGNIFICANCE OF THE BOOK

Only by paying attention to the setting, style, symbolism and structure of the book are we then ready to ask: What is the significance of the book? How does it speak to us today? I have chosen to spend less time on this today because if we get the above right then the significance will certainly become clearer. There can be no shortcuts taken in the previous four categories without risking missing God’s intended meaning of this great book. If we are not willing to follow the first four categories, then we must not preach Revelation.

The Book of Revelation was not written to satisfy our curiosity about the future. We must not use it to work out in detail a schedule leading up to the end of the world. It was not given to us to scare the hell out of people. All who have done this, contemporary authors included, have been wrong, without exception.

By placing this book in the contexts of Christ’s first and final comings, John impressed upon his audience an awareness of the Christian life and mission. It was a context in which Christians were called upon to choose between holy living and unholy living. Revelation asks the Church today: Are you going to be seduced by the whore or are you going to be a faithful and pure bride. No compromise is allowed. There were no shades of gray in the book. Throughout, John sets up stark contrasts between good and evil and invites believers to make a choice. Christians are exhorted to choose between two clearly opposed sides.

Accordingly, there are three areas where we need to strive to keep the balance.

A. We need to keep the balance between the indicative and the imperative. Indicatives abound in Revelation. There are statements made about God, Christ, evil, the Church. They express reality; they express truth; this is what I mean when I use the word “indicative.” And these truths about God and Christ provide the foundation for all of the imperatives, that is the commandments.

John adopts several strategies to exhort Christians. Let me give some of the ways in which he does. He exhorts them through numerous imperatives: repent; do deeds; be faithful; be watchful; listen. He exhorts them in describing them: they are the people of God; servants; saints; called; chosen; and faithful. He exhorts them by rebuking and commending (“I know your works . . .”). He exhorts them by promising and threatening. He exhorts them through the seven beatitudes found in the book (“Blessed are . . .”) and he exhorts them in the of lists of virtues and vices (14:4-5; 21:8,27; 22:15). There are approximately one hundred paragraphs in Revelation and eighty per cent of them contain one or more kinds of imperative.

B. We need to keep the balance between the corporate and the personal. The Christian life is a life-in-community. American culture worships individualism, but a reading of Revelation shows us that it is imperative that we maintain a balance between the personal and the corporate.
The Christian is never viewed in isolation from others. Note that each of the messages in chapters two and three begin with a call to the whole church (“to the angel of the church in Ephesus” and then the church as a whole is evaluated) but each one ends with a call to the individual: “to the one who overcomes, I will give to that person . . .”

Satan’s efforts to destroy the Church in its early days are referred to in Revelation 12 and when he is unable, according to Revelation 13 he turns his attention to individual Christians (e.g., “If anyone is to be carried into captivity . . . If anyone has wisdom, let him calculate the number of the beast . . .”).

The messages are addressed not simply to the churches but also to their individual members; both the praise and the blame and the promises of reward and loss apply to the individual members as well as to congregations. The individual’s victory over evil depends, in part, upon the faithfulness of the Church as a whole as well as the influence of the Church also depends upon the individual members.

The book teaches that only the Church corporate can be designated as “eternally secure,” while the individual believers who make up the church maintain their position only as they remain faithful to their original commitment by God’s grace. Revelation does not teach a radical individualism in which the importance of the community is diminished or denigrated. The individual Christian is always the individual-in-community. As a hostile and seductive world is confronted, the Christian life is a life lived out in close relationship with Christ within the Christian community. We are a band of pilgrims journeying home under God’s grace.

C. We need to keep the balance between the local and the global. As the Church seeks to carry out its mission, the Dragon will do all in its power to afflict and/or seduce the Church locally and globally. Satan and God have one thing in common: they both want this world and its inhabitants.

It is significant that the term used most frequently for Christians is the word “saints” and that the phrase “those who dwell upon the earth” (the “earthdwellers”) is the one that is used most to describe non-Christians. The saints and the earthdwellers are found throughout the world. Time and again we read such a phrase as “tribe, language, nation and people,” or “the four corners of the earth,” or “the earth and the sea.” There is no institution, structure, group, power, system that Satan will not use to control the world.

John says to the Church of his day and to the Church of our day: Because of the world’s sinful, seductive and suppressing ways, God calls upon the saints to remember that their vocation is to be a Christian and that their specific task is that of witness.

Every major section of Revelation reminds Christians and congregations of their responsibility to be involved in mission locally and globally (Rev. 1:5b-6; 22:17). Wherever you have a word spoken about Christ by Christians, there should be lives which authenticate the spoken words. Wherever you have acts done in the name of Christ by Christians, there is the need for words to be spoken about Christ. In Revelation there is a blending of lifestyle and verbal evangelism.

The reminder in Rev. 1:5b-6 that we are a kingdom of priests is a reminder to be concerned for witness to the whole world. Priests represent God before a watching world. John’s brothers and sisters no longer dwelled in safe and secure Jerusalem. They found themselves walking the streets of Rome and Ephesus and other metropolitan centers as well as rural areas. There is no use pretending to be a disciple of Jesus if we are unwilling to walk the streets of Rome because it is scary, difficult, corrupt, and intimidating. Jesus belongs in Rome; he belongs in Rome in spite of its persecuting and perverse ways. There is no use pretending to be his disciples if we are dodging Rome. A call to be witnesses to God’s grace is at the heart of such images.

G.R.Beasley-Murray (The Book of Revelation, p. 181) observed that “…the Church has something more important to do than simply to survive. It is set in the world to bear witness to men, even when the witness is resisted with force. The darker the hour, the more need for the Churches to be what they are: lamps, through which Christ’s light shines. Witnesses may be crushed, and lamps put out, but in the end both witness and light achieve their desired object: men give glory to God.”

Before I close, there is one more balance that I need to share; it is one not found on the study guide but it is, I believe, a critical one—the balance between the good news and the bad news—a word of gospel and a word of judgment . . . a word of gospel and a word of judgment.

Trying to Keep Your Balance: Preaching the Revelation—Some Reflections (Part 4 of 5)

bob — Mon, 08 Feb 2010 20:15:34 +0000

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.

Trying to Keep Your Balance: Preaching the Revelation—Some Reflections (Part 3 of 5)

bob — Mon, 01 Feb 2010 16:23:54 +0000

In the second part we focused on the style of genres of the book. The form shaped the substance in a significant way. Closely related to the genre is the use of symbolism in the book.

III. CONSIDER THE SYMBOLISM OF THE BOOK

I know of no interpreter, denials notwithstanding, who interprets everything in Revelation literally, plain and unadorned. No one believes that Jesus is literally a door or a Lamb or that the Devil is literally a Dragon. There are those who say that anyone who does not interpret Revelation literally is denying its inspired message. This is a bogus perspective. Such accusers themselves do not practice such an approach to language. Once again, we must interpret a book of the Bible naturally in light of its genre. It was the nature of such apocalyptic works in the ancient world to use symbolism.

Rev. 1:1 as translated in the KJV highlights the use of symbolism: “The revelation of Jesus Christ which God gave unto him, to show unto his servants things which must shortly come to pass; and he sent and signified it by his angel unto his servant John.” He sent and signified it . . . Unpack one verb, signify. God signified it, that is, God made the message known in signs. As John revealed Christ through the signs in the Gospel, so Christ is revealed through signs in the Revelation!

There are three areas where we need to try to keep the balance.

A. We need to keep the balance between the literal and the figurative. By literal I mean the plain, unadorned meaning of a word; there are no hidden layers of meaning. By figurative, we mean that something may mean something other than its original, natural sense; a word is like an onion and has to be peeled. Truth is expressed in both literal and non-literal or figurative ways.

There is a God and Christ and Spirit and Church and Devil, simply put, but they may be described in fantastic images: God is like jasper and carnelian; Christ is like a lamb; the Spirit is like blazing lamps; the Church is like two witnesses and the Devil is like a dragon or a serpent. John actually saw scorpions, beasts, and locusts, but the emphasis is on the reality they symbolize. John speaks of realities beyond human descriptive experience. He points to something real, but the images are not reality itself.

Moreover, we must interpret the symbols in light of their context, both Old Testament and in the Revelation itself. I don’t read the Book of Revelation with the newspaper in one hand and the Bible in the other. Today’s headlines are not the interpretive key to Revelation. Understanding the meaning John’s readers would have seen in it. We must discover the source of the symbolism and more often than not we will find it in the Bible itself.

Furthermore, we must beware of pressing the details; they may belong to the overall picture or they may be used for dramatic effect. Do not let the big picture be obscured by bits and pieces. Look for the central meaning of the picture. Look for the essence rather than for exactness.

B. We need to keep the balance between truth and parody. Parody is understood as a feeble imitation of the real or of the true. By its very nature, parody assumes that there is truth. On a theological level, the forces of evil acknowledge that there is truth by their very efforts to imitate truth! And this is a feature highlighted in Revelation. Evil often parades or tries to present itself as good.

Consider the parody that goes on in Revelation: God the Father, God the Son and God the Holy Spirit , the Holy Trinity, are mocked by the Unholy trinity, the Dragon, the Sea Beast and the Earth Beast; the sea-beast has a fatal wound yet lives thereby mocking the Lamb of God who has a fatal wound and yet lives; the earth-beast has horns like a lamb but speaks like a dragon whereas Christ is the Lamb of God and speaks with authority; we read of a tale of two cities, Babylon the great versus the New Jerusalem, the former being a symbol for people who follow the dragon and the other being a symbol for the redeemed people of God; white is associated with both evil (Rev. 6:1f.) and with good (Rev. 19:10f.); Christians are sealed by God (Rev. 7) whereas followers of the Dragon have the mark of the beast (Rev. 13); we read of a Whore who seduces and of a Bride who keeps herself pure; as there are two witnesses testifying to the Gospel there are two beasts opposing the two witnesses of God. Begin to make your own list early and you will marvel at the beauty of the images.

C. We need to keep in balance the plain and the paradoxical. The word “plain” means “clearly understood; evident; obvious” whereas “paradoxical” means “a statement contrary to common belief; a statement that seems contradictory, unbelievable or absurd but may be true in fact.” Surely I do not need to focus on the plain in Revelation: the reality of church, of evil, etc. But consider the images of paradox: a Lamb defeating a Dragon; a Lamb shepherding people; a people following the Lamb wherever he goes; victory achieved by sacrifice. Love, purity, holiness, and faithfulness will defeat all earthly power.

Trying to Keep Your Balance: Preaching the Revelation—Some Reflections (Part 2 of 5)

bob — Mon, 25 Jan 2010 13:51:34 +0000

In part one we considered the historical setting of the book. The book must have meant something to the original recipients, and we must seek to know what it meant before we can know what it means. Part 2 focuses on the fact that the book must have been written in a style that would have been understood by those recipients.

II. CONSIDER THE STYLE OF THE BOOK

I am talking about genre. What kind of book is this? We have gospels, history, and letters, but what about this book? Where would Barnes and Noble shelve this book? It would have to create a new category. A genre mistake is made by many preachers. They read Revelation like a “Book of Acts” with a twist, a kind of “Book of Future Acts.” Revelation tells us in great detail what is going to happen, so we are told. And we can draw up our charts and we distribute our videos. But remember this: Every single person or school of thought or church group who has done this have been consistent…consistently wrong, from the Millerites in the 1840s to the LaHaye-ites in the twenty-first century.

A genre mistake is made because we ask the wrong questions and therefore we don’t get the right answers because we impose our agenda on this book. We don’t allow God to set the agenda with the literary form that he has chosen to reveal himself. The bottom line is this: A book must be interpreted naturally in light of its genre.

Revelation is a hybrid work, combining three well-known ancient genres. It is a Christian apocalyptic-prophetic-circular letter. As an apocalypse, it was written in tough times to make a tough people and used symbolism considerably; as a circular letter, it was meant to be shared with the church throughout the ancient world to speak to their needs like other NT letters; and especially as a prophecy, it was a call to arms, a call to obedience

There are three areas where we need to keep the balance.

A. We need to keep the balance between foretelling and forthtelling. Listen to Revelation 1:3—“Blessed is the one who reads the words of this prophecy and blessed are those who hear it and obey it . . .” Prophecy is both foretelling and forthtelling. It certainly proclaims the future in the most general way: Christ has come and he is coming again so be prepared. There will be reward and punishment.
But most prophecy in the Bible is not concerned with predicting the future. The heart of prophecy is forthtelling, declaring God’s Word and Will for a people who are tempted to compromise or who are discouraged because of the rejection and outright suffering they may be experiencing. I will say more about this below, but I always encourage my students in seminary to ask of any passage in Revelation: Is there a word of comfort or a word of challenge in this verse? Or perhaps is there a combination of both comfort and challenge.

The book tells us not only what God intends to do in the most general way, it tells us what God expects us to be and do in specific ways and it offers comfort through the images of hope that we worship a reigning Lord and a redeeming Lamb.

As a prophet, John strips away the scales from our eyes and forces us to see the church in all of its strengths and weaknesses as well as this world with devils filled. The prophet warns us to beware of listening to the spirit of the age rather than to the Spirit of the God of the ages. The pastoral and the prophetic, the encouragement and the exhortation, foretelling and forthtelling, the visionary and the hortatory are intertwined. What God has brought together, let not preachers separate.

B. We need to keep the balance between the present and the future. Here I am talking about typology. John sees persons, things, or events in the OT as foreshadowings or patterns of persons, things or events in the NT or even in the future of the world—Babylon, Egypt, Moses and Elijah, Nero, the city of Rome, the practice of worshipping the Roman emperor as a god. I am talking about type and antitype.

We find it often in the New Testament. “As Jonah was in the belly of the whale, so shall the Son of Man be in the earth” . . . “As it was in the days of Noah, so shall it be at the coming of the Son of Man.” Jonah and Noah were the types or models, and Jesus was the anti-type or fulfillment (See also the use of typology in Hebrews.).

For John, Babylon was the type, Rome the antitype. For us, Rome is the type and some other godless or seductive or oppressive culture is the antitype, perhaps even the USA! Hence, in describing for his readers the downfall of Rome, Rome is a type for the destruction of all godless cultures leading up even to the destruction of the world when Christ comes in glory.

C. We need to keep the balance between prediction and promise. This point complements the above. The book not only predicts Jesus’ final coming it also declares the promises which Jesus’ first and final comings fulfill.

A prediction is a fairly flat affair. Either it comes true or it doesn’t. But in predictions we often find detailed promises. And a promise is much more than a prediction. It is one thing to predict the end of the world, which is what John does in a general way.

Again, in using Rome as a model, John is saying as Rome was judged by God and came to an end, so will any culture which opposes God, so indeed the whole world. But in making predictions, often promises are made. John predicted the fall of the Roman Empire but stars did not fall from the sky nor did the moon turn to blood. But a promise is different. It has a dynamic quality that goes beyond the external details involved.

For example, there are many promises made to believers (see the end of each of the messages in chapters two and three as well as promises made in others chapters like 7, 21—22). The promises were made in terms that would have been understood by the original recipients. But the promises may well be kept in deeper and fuller ways. In other words, all of the promises about future reward will be enriched and enhanced when kept. On the other hand, if we are not in Christ, all of the horrible promises about punishment will be enriched and enhanced when kept.

We must not fail to see the living and “transformable” quality of promises which were probably understood quite literally at the time of their giving. But just because the promises exceed our hopes or fears does not mean that the promises were not kept. Changed circumstances and the end of the world may well enable the promises to be kept in a different way, without emptying the promises of their purpose. To insist on literal fulfillment of prophecies means we may well overlook their actual nature within the category of promise, with the potential different and progressively superior levels of fulfillment. When someone insists that a prediction or promise must be interpreted literally, that person is overlooking the actual nature of a promise found in the prediction, a promise that may have superior levels of fulfillment.

Let me illustrate this way. Let’s say it is 1985 and a seven year old boy sees his dad’s typewriter and he is captivated by it. He desperately wants one. And he asks his father if he can have one someday. Yes says the Father, when you finish high school so that you can use it when you are in college. Ten years pass and at the graduation party the parents give the teenager a computer with word processing, internet capability—the works. And a color laser printer. Has the promise been kept? Yes and no. No, the boy did not receive a typewriter but yes in the sense that the father (who in 1985 knew about computers but had not yet bought one) fulfilled the promise in a much richer and more beautiful way. So the promises in the Revelation.

Trying to Keep Your Balance: Preaching the Revelation–Some Reflections (Part 1 of 5)

bob — Mon, 18 Jan 2010 14:35:30 +0000

“Critics are madder than poets…And even though St. John the Evangelist saw many strange monsters in his vision, he saw no creatures so wild as one of his own commentators.”
G.K. Chesterton

How in the world does one preach the Revelation responsibly?

When we read this book we may, at various points, think we have picked up a demented copy of the National Geographic Magazine filled with grotesque creatures—a slaughtered Lamb standing, a dragon with its tail sweeping stars out of the sky, or a beast with seven heads and ten horns. Or we may think that we have been surfing with our remote controls and we have come upon the weather channel revealing a world gone amuck with lightning and thunderstorms and hundred pound hailstones and raging seas and fierce tsunami-like conditions. Or perhaps we may think we have picked up a jigsaw puzzle with 5000 pieces and we have no picture of what it is we are trying to piece together or a puzzle book with crossword puzzles and page after page of scrambled letters where we are supposed to circle hidden words or phrases. Or perhaps we may think that we have picked up a college level higher mathematics book with incomprehensible numbers and equations, with threes, fours, twelves and multiples of twelve, and tens and multiples of tens and times, time and half a time. Or perhaps upon reading through the book in one sitting we conclude that it reads like a poorly directed film whose director and editor did not know when and how to end the movie. Or perhaps we think someone has typed in the words “The End” on some apocalyptic search engine and we have come up with web sites never dreamed of.

Indeed, when we open this last book of the Bible we experience a collision of sounds, smells, and sights. The book assaults our senses. We see a funeral procession, a wedding celebration, a brothel, a homecoming, a banquet, a dance; we smell incense and we see falling stars; we taste bitter waters; we see storms on the horizon and a childbirth; and we feel the winds of judgment; and we hear beautiful praise choruses or dire warnings too horrible to contemplate.

We can’t believe what we see or what we hear. And we are tempted to close the book and think: Never again. Never again will I read this book. There is not a chance that I’ll preach this one.

No wonder many preachers never make it past the third chapter. Is it worth the trouble to read this book let alone preach the Revelation? I am convinced that it must be preached. It must be because it is as inspired as Romans or Jude. It must be preached because of its profound message about the nature of the Christian life and the nature of Church life and the nature of the world in which we live and hope to hold out a witness to the Gospel. It is a book that appeals to a postmodern world with all of its sights, sounds, and smells. It is a book that speaks to the eternal struggle that God’s people have experienced, always living on the edge, and always living under the shadow of threats to destroy the Church or threats to domesticate the Church.

But how does one preach this book? Many of us are intimidated. Why? “Imbalance” is the word that comes to my mind. “Imbalance”–An obsession with Antichrist and Armageddon, one word never found in the book and the other only once. An obsession with tribulation and timetables, with rapture and resurrection, with speculation and sensationalism, with the millennium and the Middle East and an obsession of being afraid of “being left behind.” “Imbalance.”

We either ignore the book in preaching or become obsessed and think that all clear passages of Scripture can be shaped by a handful of obscure passages. Or perhaps we are tempted to focus on the easiest to understand sections or those passages that produce the most fireworks, lighting up the sky with marvelous and frightening scenes.

If God has given us this book to be heard, read, prayed over, and obeyed, how in this world does one preach Revelation responsibly?

We can do so only if we work hard at keeping our balance.

In the coming weeks I want to explore with you five categories to keep in mind that will assist you in keeping your balance so that God will be honored in the study and in the pulpit. Please feel free to post any of your thoughts on how to preach this amazing book. Remember: For if God is not honored in the study, he will not be honored on Sunday.

I. CONSIDER THE SETTING OF THE BOOK

I refer to the book’s Scriptural and historical environments.

There are three areas where we need to try to keep the balance.

A. We need to keep the balance between the Old Testament and the New Testament. We must place Revelation in its scriptural (or canonical) setting, seeing it in light of the Bible as a whole. Let me illustrate the importance of this in two ways.

First, there are more than 500 allusions to the writings of the OT, from Genesis to Malachi—references drawn from Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus, Deuteronomy, Kings and Joshua and Judges and the major and minor prophets. One of the major reasons why Christians fail to understand Revelation is that they lack an awareness of the use of the Old Testament that permeates the book.

John used familiar language and imagery, sometimes modified, at other times unchanged. He communicated marvelous truths revealed to him by God through word pictures which were thoroughly familiar to his first readers. If we would realize this, perhaps there would be less of a tendency to read current events back into a first century text. It is the first century setting and Old Testament images that help us interpret the book, not today’s headlines.

Second, the message of John complements the message found in the other NT writings. Taken together, all of the NT writings emphasize that eschatology has to do with Christ’s first coming and all that happens until his final coming. All of the authors proclaim that whenever and wherever the Bible speaks about Christ’s final coming, its purpose is always to challenge Christians’ beliefs and behavior and remind us of our message and mission. Christians are to live lives that reflect that Christ has come and that Christ is coming. Whereas Paul speaks in generalities about the principalities and powers we fight (Eph. 6:10f.), John gives us the details in spectacular images. But their message is the same. We fight not against flesh and blood, not against Roman tyranny or terrorism but against the Prince of Tyranny, Temptation and Terror. We are called upon to liberate prisoners of war.

B. We need to keep the balance between the Macro and the Micro. We must work hard at seeing the forest rather than get lost by looking at the trees and their trunks, branches, and even leaves. There are times when you will look at a passage and you will be tempted to throw up your hands in despair and wonder who in the world are the twenty-four elders in Revelation four or who are these living creatures and why does God look like jasper and carnelian rather than an old man with white robe, hair and beard. And we may well miss the heartbeat of that vision: the ongoing worship of God in heaven—a worship service which gets at the heart of worship, that is celebrating in God and showing loyalty to God. The ceaseless worship of God in heaven is to be matched by Christians worshipping 24-7-365.

C. We need to keep the balance between the Cultural and the Cross-Cultural. This perhaps is one of the biggest mistakes made in today’s popular studies of this book. There is a failure to bridge the gap. I am guided by a fundamental truth about all of the books in the Bible: All writings must have had a meaning for their first readers. But something happens when many preachers approach the Book of Revelation. Many don’t pay a bit of attention to what this book said to the people at the end of the first century. Rather we are self-centered and we want to know only how it speaks to us today. We cannot do this with any other book of the Bible; we dare not do it with this one. Again, every book of the NT must have had a meaning for their first readers.

Why did God give John this revelation? How did it speak to John and his comrades in the faith? Only when we make the journey back to the first century do we dare try to build a bridge to the twenty-first century. I am convinced that most of today’s popular literature from Lindsay to LaHaye, if it could be transported back via a time machine to first century Ephesus, such literature would be viewed as nonsense, bogus, irrelevant. John’s readers wouldn’t have a clue concerning the message of “The Left Behind” series. Again, if we do not know what it meant to Christians back then, it is impossible to know what it means to us today.

Conflict describes the situation in John’s day. There is conflict when two forces or ideas or individuals are trying to occupy the same space at the same time for opposite reasons. The Kingdom of God versus the Kingdom of the Dragon. And the terms “suffering” and “seduction” describe the situations the Christians were facing in those days. The greatest menace facing the Christians was not in the form of direct persecution, even though there was some of that and there would, no doubt, be more. No, the greatest menace facing the churches was the temptation to compromise with culture.

Like Babylon of old, Rome acted as seductress, using all of its moral, social, economic, religious, political and military might to lure Christians into compromising relationships and complacency. And if that would not work, Rome would force itself upon the Christians. Resisting the power of cultural seduction is sounded repeatedly in the book. Some Christians had clearly capitulated while others had remained loyal to Christ. Many needed to be shaken from their spiritual lethargy and challenged to accept the cost of discipleship.

Or in Dietrich Bonhoeffer’s words: “When Christ calls a man, he bids him come and die.” And I have no doubt that John would say “Amen. There is no other way than to follow the Lamb wherever he goes, and where he goes may involve incredible suffering but incredible blessing.”

When the church refuses to be seduced by culture, it should not be surprised to experience rejection. On the other hand, when seduction is successful, the church will be ignored and or tolerated.

Strategies for Teaching Revelation (Or Any Book of the Bible for that Matter)

bob — Tue, 13 Oct 2009 00:38:34 +0000

I just returned from a delightful trip to Mechanicsville, Virginia. Ronnie Jones, a dear friend and preacher and teacher of Scripture, asked me to teach an overview of the Book of Revelation over four nights. It was my third visit to Gethsemane Church of Christ, and like the other two occasions, I was blessed to have the opportunity to share Scripture.

On the day I returned, Ronnie and I went out for breakfast and we discussed strategies for teaching Revelation. He will be retiring as the preaching minister of Gethsemane next spring, but he hopes to continue preaching and teaching in area churches. He will do well, I know.

As we talked, I told Ronnie that in doing itinerant preaching and teaching over the years, I have learned some lessons.

First, focus on the macro not the micro. Help people see the forest rather than individual trees. Far too many preachers want to discuss the identity of the twenty-four elders or the meaning of 666 and people become confused. When you do focus on micro topics of passages, always place them in the context of the bigger picture.

Second, move from the simple to the complex. Don’t start out offering an interpretation of the two witnesses in Revelation 11, for example. Instead focus on clearer passages that speak about the responsibility of the church to be witnessing and then bring in Revelation 11.

Third, use the familiar to explain the unfamiliar. For example, before discussing the symbols in Revelation, show how symbols permeate church culture (the cross, the bread and the juice, the pulpit, etc.).

Fourth, always stress context. Context, the weaving together of passages within a book and how those passages and the book itself fits in with the overall STORY of the Bible. More misunderstanding takes places because of missed context than for any other reason, I believe.

Fifth, start off with what the book meant before you discuss what it means. The book must have meant something to the original recipients. That is the starting point for all responsible application.

Sixth, related to the point above, move repeatedly back and forth between the “then” and the “now,” between background (the first century setting) and the foreground (the twenty-first century setting). Don’t make a lesson merely a “history” lesson but show the timeliness and the timelessness of the book.

Seventh, model the principle of letting Scripture interpret Scripture. The answers to our questions are, more often than not, embedded in the text itself.

Eighth, engage and encourage your audience. Engage by welcoming comments before, during and after the teaching sessions. Encourage questions to be asked. I always find something “good” in a question not matter how simple or how it may seem to be off the subject.

Ninth, review, review, and then review some more. Repetition helps ideas lodge in our hearts and minds.

Tenth, teach with bold humility. You do not want to appear wishy-washy, and yet you don’t want to appear to have all the answers. Be willing to acknowledge when you don’t know the answer or haven’t decided what position to take or bounce between one, two, or even three possible interpretations.

Thanks, Ronnie, for the breakfast and the conversation.

Dispensational by Default

bob — Tue, 16 Jun 2009 16:25:41 +0000

No, I have not been re-converted to dispensational premillennialism! But the more I teach in a variety of settings, the move convinced I am that many people in America and elsewhere are dispensational by default. They do not know of any other position to take. They assume it is the orthodox position for one reason or a combination of reasons: (a) Their preacher or professor taught the scheme; (b) Their study Bible was so oriented; (c) Their readings—novels, systematic theologies, commentaries—reflected such an approach; (d) Or their favorite television or radio expositors taught the approach. Of course, there may be other reasons.

In teaching New Testament Eschatology on a master’s/graduate level both in the States and in Eastern Europe, students tell me that when they hear my approach they are stunned that there is another way of reading numerous texts and that although they had inherited the dispensational perspective they really did not know why they held the position and they did not know how to respond to other approaches. Last night my translator at the session I am currently teaching at Haus Edelweiss told me that he had to “work himself out of dispensationalism” because he saw the inconsistencies in how it treated genre, symbolism, and structure. He saw undeserving emphasis on the modern state of Israel and the countless times the prophecy experts have been wrong when making predictions what would happen next, from the most recent episodes of violence in the Middle East to the identity of the Antichrist.

On a personal level this has challenged me to be even more committed to completing the trilogy of works on Revelation and eschatology. Even though frequent visitors to this site know that I have wrestled with the very idea of doing extensive writing, the importance of doing so grows weekly. One of the readers even suggested that what needs to be done is for someone to write a series of popular novels from an amillennial perspective (“Left Behind: The Real Story”)!

So here is my question: If many of us believe that dispensationalism is an incorrect and therefore inadequate approach to this vital subject of eschatology, how do we promote another perspective? Any suggestions? For example, it would be helpful if preachers moved beyond Rev. 2-3 and actually tackled other chapters.

Related posts on this site:

The Second Law of Thermodynamics and Dispensational Premillennialism

The Second Law of Thermodynamics and Dispensational Premillennialism Revisited

Why I Am an Amillennialist: Additional Reflections

The Dangers of Theological Systems Illustrated

Ten Random Reflections on Teaching Scripture in Churches

bob — Mon, 23 Mar 2009 06:01:09 +0000

My colleague, friend, and manager of rlowery.com recently suggested that I offer some reflections on my experiences in teaching Revelation in churches. I thought the idea was a good one, and I invite you to consider the following reflections (arranged in no particular order):

I am blessed to have numerous opportunities to teach people Scripture—be it the Book of Revelation, another New Testament writing, or a particular topic. I always try not only to provide interpretation and answers to their questions about particular passages but I also offer strategies for how Christians can study the Bible on their own. This leads me to . . .
I am constantly being reminded that most congregations I visit do not provide regular opportunities for equipping people how to read and how to study Scripture. Indeed, I find that there is a hunger out there for wanting to know how and that people’s appetites are not be satisfied. This concerns me greatly.
Such basic principles as studying a passage in light of the historical background, its genre, its structure, etc. are simply not considered by many of the folks I have taught.
A biblical author’s intended meaning is not the goal of many students but rather they believe they need to impose their meaning on the passage. They are not aware of doing this but they do it instinctively. When I ask: What was the author’s intended meaning? I am met with the proverbial deer-in-the-headlights-look.
People are amazed to learn that prophecy is primarily proclamation and not prediction. I have to keep reminding them that I am not saying there is no prediction in a book like Revelation but that is not John’s major concern. The proper translation of Rev. 1:3 (The NIV vs. the ESV, for example, where the former is atrocious because it translates the verb that means “to keep” or “to obey” as “take to heart” whereas the ESV gets it right. Interesting, the NIV does get it right where the same verb is used in Rev. 22:7). Students realize that when they read Revelation they need to focus on the question: What are we to obey? Rather than When is this or that going to happen?
I am amazed at how receptive people are to the approach I am emphasizing, namely, that Revelation is a discipleship handbook helping Christians know how to live properly between Christ’s first and final comings.
I believe there is a growing interest on how to know the Word better.
I am worried that many people (including preachers) think that the primary way of getting the Word into the hearts and minds of people is via the Sunday gathering where the sermons are, to say the least, a bit thin. Sermons that do not challenge the intellect ultimately make little impact on the heart, let alone life’s decisions.
People in our churches ask good questions when provided the opportunity. Indeed, often the questions are profound ones. My maxim is that the deeper we probe Scripture (and this includes asking the right questions!), the greater the application.
People know that something must be wrong about how many self-styled Revelation experts cannot agree with one another on how a particular event is a fulfillment of prophecy and that inevitably the predictions that are so confidently made do not come to pass and that revised editions of the experts’ books have to be published to the benefit of those authors and to the detriment of the readers who have better things to do than to read another book by people like . . .

A Century of Damage

bob — Mon, 02 Mar 2009 06:01:12 +0000

Let me admit it up front: This post is going to be rather caustic. Perhaps I will regret it in the days ahead, but right now I want to reflect on the birthday of one of the most damaging study Bibles produced in America, The Scofield Reference Bible (KJV), first published in 1909. I am embarrassed to admit this, but Scofield’s study Bible was the one given to me as a child, and its teachings deeply influenced me for many years, to the point that I avoided studying Revelation.

There are many good study Bibles out there (NIV Quest Study Bible, The NIV Study Bible, and my current favorite, The English Standard Version Study Bible). Such Bibles can be incredibly helpful so long as readers know that the notes at the bottom of the pages are not inspired! What I have discovered is that many equate Scofield’s notes with Scripture! So sad!

Cyrus I. Scofield (1843-1921), a Kansas City lawyer with a sordid past, solidified the way dispensational premillennialism would be understood for decades to come, even into the twenty-first century. Scofield had no formal theological training, and it shows. (Not that I believe that one has to have such training, but it should help, and in his case, it would have helped!). He created a “study Bible” that contained extensive notes, cross references, and commentary so that the “scientific” nature of biblical prophecy would be evident to the average “layman.” With a group of editors assisting him, the tool was published in 1909. It has sold millions of copies over the years and, according to E. Sandeen in his fine book The Roots of Fundamentalism (p. 222), it is “perhaps the most influential single publication in millenarian and Fundamentalist historiography. . . . The book has . . . been subtly but powerfully influential in spreading [dispensational] views among hundreds of thousands who have regularly read the Bible and who often have been unaware of the distinction between ancient text and the Scofield interpretation.” Indeed, a popular witticism, sung to a favorite hymn, declared: “My hope is build on nothing less/Than Scofield’s Notes and Moody Press.” The updated version (Updated! Dispensationalists are always having to update something!), the New Scofield Reference Bible, printed in 1967, is still used today.

Between Dwight L. Moody and Scofield, the newfangled idea of the Rapture and various other theological innovations of John Nelson Darby (an Irish preacher who was also a former lawyer—What is it about lawyers and theology?) achieved tremendous popularity in our country, right up to the irresponsible and poorly written Left Behind novels, be they the original volumes or the prequels and sequels.

Consider Scofield’s conclusions: many passages are not meant—at least primarily—for Christians in the “Church age,” notably the Sermon on the Mount! (Note the exclamation points I am using in this piece; I think I am setting a personal record!) Like Darby, Scofield made a radical distinction between the Church and Old Testament Israel. Hence, most of Christ’s teachings were for the future Jewish Kingdom age, not for the Church. Did you know that Jesus is a “parenthetical insert” into history because salvation history has been detoured into the Church age until the Jewish people are ready to return to God? Did you know that Jesus did not intend to establish a Church, indeed that the very idea of a Church is that it is God’s plan “B” because the Jews of Jesus day rejected him as Messiah? (Now I know that there is a developing movement called “Progressive Dispensationalism,” but the damage has been done and continues to be done by the traditional dispensationalism championed by Scofield, Moody, LaHaye, Jenkins, Lindsey, Van Impe, etc.).

Scofield and his contemporaries believed that history could be more perfectly understood through analysis and categorization. Specifically, dispensationalists believed that history could be divided into a number of distinct eras in each of which the mode of God’s operations was unique. The eras were called dispensations. These dispensations are periods of time in which certain conditions were placed on mankind by God in order for salvation to be realized. Of course, proponents usually see seven dispensations! How surprising! You have the dispensations as Innocence (Adam), Conscience (post-Adam to the flood), Human Government ( Gentiles after the Flood1), Promise (Abraham to Moses), Law (Moses to Christ), Grace (Church age), and future Kingdom (the millennium).

Another key work by Scofield, Rightly Dividing the Word of Truth, published in 1896 outlines his approach. Here is what is ironic: Scofield’s approach is based upon the very poor King James Version translation of II Tim. 2:15 “Study to shew thyself approved unto God, a workman that needeth not to be ashamed, rightly dividing the word of truth.” Hence, in light of the underlined phrase, Scofield believed we are called upon to divide the history of the world into dispensations. Any first year Greek student who would offer a translation of II Tim. 2:15 in the way the KJV does would fail the assignment. The word translated “rightly dividing” means “correctly handling.” The verse calls upon students of Scripture to interpret properly, something Scofield consistently does not do.

Scofield’s notes continue to appeal because of the study Bible’s orderly structure, the appearance of accuracy in its commentary, and its direct appeal to the average reader.

There is little doubt that without the Scofield Reference Bible the theological and eschatological landscape of the United States would look quite different today. Indeed, it would look better, I believe.

Some Reminders as You Continue Studying the Bible in the New Year

bob — Tue, 03 Feb 2009 19:31:34 +0000

For the first time, I am teaching a seminar on Revelation 2-3, a section of Revelation I have often taught in churches but never in seminary. Nine fine students are enrolled and this morning (January 20, 2009) I sent them a memo providing some tips as they begin their journey of study. As I re-read them, I thought it would be appropriate for me to share them with you. In 2009 heed the following:

1. Beware of getting on a hobby horse and focusing on only one aspect (or a handful of issues) of the passage you are studying (e.g., spending most of your time on identifying the Nicolaitans or the hidden manna). Once you are finished with your presentation (or once we are finished reading your paper), we should have a better understanding of the passage or topic as a whole. Some may be tempted to miss the forest for the trees.

2. Beware of divorcing Rev. 1—3 from the rest of the book (e.g., is your passage or portions of your passages hinted at in later passages in Revelation)? You will want to make a list of all the vocabulary in your passage and see how the terms (and synonyms) are used elsewhere in Revelation. Those dealing with chapters two and three must pay attention to the content of Rev. 1 as well as Rev. 4-22. Those dealing with such issues as identifying the angel or the description of Christ need to be sensitive to the role angels play throughout the book or to the interplay between heaven and earth as well as other descriptions of Christ found scattered throughout Revelation as a whole. Far too often exegetes isolate Rev. 1-3 from the rest of the book. Please do not be guilty of doing this.

3. Beware of ignoring the structure of the passage (especially the structure and modification of structure found in chapters two and three).

4. Beware of ignoring the way the Old Testament is used in your passage (the chapter in the book edited by G.K. Beale and D.A. Carson will be especially helpful as well as the OT allusions found in the back of my book).

5. There may be times that you can explore x-number of options with regard to an exegetical issue; evaluate each one with regard to strengths and weaknesses and make a decision as best you can based on your study. There are some issues that remain debated even after nearly two thousand years of discussion!

6. Beware of overlooking the connections between the various messages in two and three. What is unique to your passage and what is similar when compared with the others?

7. Please do not think you already know what the text says! How do you know what “lukewarm” means or what it meant by “first love”? Are you sure you have been taught correctly on these and other passages? Do not assume you know what the passage means; be prepared for surprises!

8. Some additional rules need to be observed, rules that will help you realize that exegesis both a science and an art:

(1) Read your passage over and over again and read it in terms of the passages immediately surrounding it as well as in light of the entire document;

(2) Read your passage and ask how it fits the Story John is relating;

(3) Read the passage in light of the fact that it was recorded by a particular narrator to a particular audience for particular reasons;

(4) Read the passage in light of the time frame and space frame;

(5) Reconstruct in imagination the human situations within each idea derived its relevance for John and the original recipients;

(6) At every point try to fit your ways of thinking into the text’s ways, not the texts into yours!

(7) Free yourself from the desire to make a passage immediately useful in meeting urgent contemporary needs, whether personal or communal;

(8) Read as an individual who is responsible for responding to the text on your own, in terms of your own fund of talents and knowledge rather than screening the text through secondary literature (e.g., commentaries and other special studies);

(9) When a given sentence baffles, look for clarification to nearby sentences and to the patterns of John’s thought throughout the rest of the book;

(10) In each verse something is hidden that would surprise you, if you could find it. What you expect is sometimes not there; what you do not expect is there; look for it;

(11) Familiarity most surely, if subtly, breeds contempt of well-known passages (e.g., Is “Behold, I stand at the door and knock” to be used to call people to accept Christ as Lord and Savior? ;

(12) I know that such rules are dangerous because they can constitute a prescription for bizarre interpretations in which personal idiosyncrasies may run riot (I expect no one to proclaim in their presentation: “ I have found something in the text that no one, absolutely no one in the last two thousand years has ever seen!”);

(13) Yet I am convinced that only in following the above guidelines will a passage begin to pull your thought into new channels;

(14) Please be prepared to come to class to share some of the surprises that have come to you as you have tried to come to terms with what Revelation is teaching.

Do your best (II Tim. 2:15)!