The New Jerusalem

Outline: The New Jerusalem
Passage: Revelation 21:9-22:6a
Discussion audio (39m)

The Bride of the Lamb is finally revealed! It turns out to be the New Jerusalem. This passage is often read as a description of “heaven” but that turns out to be the least likely application. The New Jerusalem is a description of the Church, of which aspects already exist today and have since Jesus sent the Holy Spirit to his disciples after his resurrection.

The descriptive texts of New Jerusalem are highly suffused with symbolic metaphors from the Old Testament writings as well as other Jewish writings known during the era of Revelation’s writing. The New Jerusalem is the culmination of all that Judaism was looking towards as the climax of history, but is now described in terms of Jesus Christ and the Church.

The New Jerusalem represents the Holy of Holies in Judaism, the place where God himself is said to have dwelt. In Revelation John describes the saints in the Holy of Holies with God himself. It will remain forever, and the saints will dwell in the safety and security of God’s presence. There will be nothing to fear, ever again.

Why Interpretation Matters

I came across the following post, “Why Are Right Wing Extremists So Anti-Islamic?” It demonstrates how something as esoteric and niche as biblical prophecy can have profound real-life implications to a broad swath of the global populace.

The post describes why so many Christians seem like they are pro-Israel (but not necessarily pro-Jew). They are pro-Israel because their particular interpretation of biblical prophecy demands it. Without the State of Israel Jesus’ return cannot happen. So all effort – political, religious, and economic – must be expended to guarantee that the State of Israel remains until Jesus returns.

One particular brand of Christian theology has infected the entire world.

For the record, anyone following this blog should know that I don’t subscribe to that particular worldview. My interpretation is that:

• The term “Israel” in prophecy never refers to a literal region or a nation. It refers to God’s people, his servants. It refers to the universal (“catholic” with a little-“c”, if you like) church.
• Prophecy is not primarily about fore-telling, but forth-telling. Fore-telling is about the future. Forth-telling is about God.
• Prophecy is not given to provide us with a roadmap for the future. The purpose of prophecy is to assure God’s people that he can be trusted, whatever present circumstances might be.
• In those rare instances where prophecy appears to be describing something in the future, it is so that we can look back upon the event, after the event, and see God’s hand in it.
• To use prophecy and try to force a particular unfolding of it is idolatry; i.e., an attempt to control God and his actions.

The Lamb, The 144k, Three Angels, and Two Harvests

Outline: The Lamb, the 144k, and Three Angels
Passage: Revelation 14
Discussion audio (52 min)

Revelation 14 continues the dramatic Act that began at chapter 12. We have tried to consistently read Revelation as speaking not to individuals, but to groups and systems. Revelation is then addressed not to individual Christians, but to the Church. Revelation sees the opponents of the church not as individual peoples, but as systems (including political, religious, social, economic, entertainment) of the world that run on principles that are against God’s principles.

With these principles in mind, a couple of the key messages of Revelation 14 are against 1) those who seek to influence worldly systems through collective participation of Christians in said systems, and 2) those who would seek to gain influence of the worldly systems to promote and benefit the church. The message is that systems based upon principles of the world will never be redeemed by the collective influence of Christians. When the church collectively attempts to participate and influence worldly systems, it is the church that becomes infected with the very principles it originally set out to correct.

The very beginning of Revelation, the Seven Letters to the Seven Churches, addressed the Church. The collective message of the letters was against accommodating the Empire in order to gain and leverage her favor for the Church. Revelation 14 reiterates the message, but much more forcefully and graphically. John has already depicted the worldly powers (“those who dwell on earth”) as never repenting. The message of the three angels is not a warning to the world, but a declaration. The “good news” is not so much the proclamation of the gospel so that the world might repent, but the proclamation of judgment against the Church’s oppressors to vindicate the Church.

There is great temptation among Christians to attempt to redeem the world by working through its systems. There is also great temptation among Christians to hold up “trophies” it has “captured” from among the world in order to bolster its position and prominence. Revelation exhorts the Church to reject both temptations. That is not to say individuals cannot be in the world (remember, Revelation is not speaking to individual actions), but rather the Church must remain separate from the world.

Woman and Dragon–Part 1

Outline: Woman and Dragon - 1
Passage: Revelation 12
Discussion audio (52m)

With chapter 12, we enter what may be the beginning of the heart of the book of Revelation. At the very least this is where many consider the “interesting” aspects of Revelation to begin, what with dragons and beasts and other assorted fantastic creatures.

How should we read this next section? As allegory, as is often the case? Or as dramatic narrative, as we have been doing so far? Does how we read it make a difference to how we interpret the text? Does it make a difference to the message we take away? Those are some of the questions that we will begin to answer with this session.