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.

Scroll and Seals–Silence and Trumpets

Outline: Seven Seals - Silence and Trumpets
Passage: Revelation 8:1-6
Discussion audio (56m)

This discussion concludes the Act of the Seven Seals and the scene of the Temple in Heaven that began in Revelation chapter 4. Suspense has built up as the audience awaits the opening of the scroll. But alas, the audience must wait a little longer because the opening of the seventh seal does not immediately follow with the revelation of the scroll’s contents. Instead the Temple scene continues as trumpets are handed to seven angels and the handing down of judgment appears to begin.

One of the key points that John makes in this transition passage between the seven seals and seven trumpets is once again, the Church is Israel. John continues to transfer the typology found in the Hebrew temple rituals to what Jesus is doing in the Temple of Heaven. Implied by this transfer is all of the promises and prophecies that were given to Israel and to the Jews are now transferred to the Church.

Prologue

Outline: Prologue
Passage: Revelation 1:1-8
Discussion audio (39 minutes)

In our discussions yesterday, the most surprising and difficult concept to grasp in this passage was the concept of temporal terms that John uses: soon, near. Traditionally we’ve known that at least some of the things described would indeed take place within a few years of their writing, but we assume that most of what was written was about a future taking place after an indeterminate number of years. But for John and his audience all of what was written was to take place now and in the imminent future.

Another concept that requires a change of perspective is the Second Coming. For most Christians this is something that takes place at the very end of time. John, however, frequently uses the present tense verb when he writes about Jesus’ coming. It appears then, that for John, the Second Coming is not just about something at the end of time, but something that has already taken place and continues to take place all of the time.

A few more things to note in this passage:

• John employs terms used in the Old Testament to describe God and applies them to Jesus. Perhaps there was confusion in the churches of Asia Minor regarding the true identity and nature of Jesus. John wants to make it absolutely clear that Jesus is fully God.
• John employs terms used in the Old Testament to describe Israel and applies them to the Church. “Israel” is not a national or a racial term, but a theological term. It means “people who belong to God as his special people.” Interpretation of Revelation can get very convoluted if this concept is not held clear – that Israel and the Church are one and the same.
• The death and resurrection of Jesus is a key theme in Revelation – “the firstborn of the dead,” “by his blood.”