The Book of Revelation: Fantastic hope for a new world
June 22, 2014 | Anita Retzlaff

"Grace to you and peace from him who is and who was and who is to come, and from the seven spirits who are before his throne and from Christ Jesus, the faithful witness, the firstborn of the dead, and the ruler of the kings of the earth." (Rev. 1:4-5)  Thus begins the Book of Revelation, the revelation of John of Patmos, to the seven churches that are in Asia.  I found it very interesting as I was considering which translation to use this morning that it wasn't necessary to find a translation in language that was easy to follow because the images are clear.  Revelation is a story, a drama in 7 acts, a fantasy story that does not use big theological words or concepts that are difficult for us to understand.  The revelation of John is a series of images and visions that are easy enough to read - that is not the challenge.  The challenge is one of interpretation, the sense we make of it, and has been so for 2000 years of Christian history. I hope today to show the good news, the happy ending and the gracious nature of God. 

I chose Chapter 12 to read and print in the bulletin because for me it is the central image or action that occurs in this fantasy story.  And I use the word fantasy very deliberately.  We know about fantasy literature today; there is lots of it in bookstores and in the media. It is not my favourite way of hearing a story but for many people it is just the thing; it is imaginative and filled with action creating new worlds with new possibilities. Some of our more accepted and by now classic fantasy stories are the Narnia series of C. S. Lewis and the Lord of the Rings trilogy by JRR Tolkien. I think of Charles Dickens' A Christmas Carol in which the ghosts of Christmas Past and Future make scary appearances and shock the reader into action. There is still time to change your present life and to make things better. These are the acceptable fantasies to study and analyze today.  I am sure that you could name many more. Now, recent works like the Harry Potter series is still considered suspect by some who fear that the content will turn children into fans of evil ways. 

What these fantasies all have in common are scary characters and frightening scenarios.  Along with many fairy tales that we heard as children, these stories involve high drama, battles between good and evil and highlight characters like witches, dragons, ghosts, beasts and wild animals.  This is the stuff of the Revelation of John.  The frightening images of the dragon and the beasts from the sea and the land are real threats and real enemies of the Christian people in John's community; they are symbolic for the deathly forces that threaten life and limb.

For some generations now the Book of Revelation has been used as a predictor or forecaster of the end of the world and the final battle between God and the devil.  I would suggest however that though Revelation definitely addresses the struggle between the evil powers of the Roman Empire and the fledgling Christian community, it was never meant to predict the ultimate end of the world, of God's creation, for all time.  These images are not a secret code for some future event that we can figure out today but rather a description of recognizable political and social structures of 1st century Rome.  These are signs and symbols of course, clever caricatures of power and abuse. These images and visions would need no explanation to those who hear them almost 2000 years ago.  And it is important for us to remember that the Revelation of John is meant to be read in worship and in its entirety.  It has a hopeful and saving message for all who hear the whole story. I encourage you to go home and read it with that in mind.We won't hear the whole story today: only a few bits and pieces that I hope will show us the grace and mercy of God in difficult times.  

The horror and pain, the brutal and ultimate control of the Roman Empire over all of its subject peoples, is what is being described in chapter 12. It is a classic battle between evil and good between false hope and the real hope in God through Jesus Christ. The characters are symbolic: the woman clothed with the sun, pregnant and waiting to give birth can be imagined as Mary, Jesus' mother or more broadly as Israel, a nation born into Christ.  The great red dragon is the opposite of the woman; it is evil, all things anti-God, the devil, Satan.  The dragon terrorizes the woman waiting to pounce and to devour her newborn, the church. Evil waits to destroy the good. The language and images used are militaristic, doom-oriented and fantastical; no surprise that we struggle with its meaning.  It evokes fear in us: fear of the unknown.

Chapter 13 opens to the vision of two beasts both who worship the great red dragon.  The first beast arises out of the sea. This beast is equated with the emperor of Rome and all of the abuses of his administration. And this beast gives authority to a second beast coming up from the land. This beast symbolizes false promises, false prophets who promote the Empire, the dragon and the first beast as objects of worship. I describe this for you because we are approaching something very familiar in the text and quite often misunderstood. These two beasts, from the sea and from the land, do their utmost to enslave and destroy the woman, Israel, God's people. We hear now the vision of the beast of the land, the evil that poses as good, deceiving the people and marking them with its mark, 666, on hands and foreheads.

Revelation 13:11-14:3 - scripture reader
" Then I saw another beast that rose out of the earth; it had two horns like a lamb and it spoke like a dragon. It exercises all the authority of the first beast on its behalf, and it makes the earth and its inhabitants worship the first beast, whose mortal wound had been healed. It performs great signs, even making fire come down from heaven to earth in the sight of all; and by the signs that it is allowed to perform on behalf of the beast, it deceives the inhabitants of earth, telling them to make an image for the beast that had been wounded by the sword and yet lived; and it was allowed to give breath to the image of the beast, so that the image of the beast could even speak and cause those who would not worship the image of the beast to be killed. Also it causes all, both small and great, both rich and poor, both free and slave, to be marked on the right hand or the forehead, so that no one can buy or sell who does not have the mark, that is, the name of the beast or the number of its name. This calls for wisdom: let anyone with understanding calculate the number of the beast, for it is the number of a person. Its number is six hundred and sixty-six.
Then I looked, and there was the Lamb, standing on Mount Zion! And with him were one hundred and forty-four thousand who had his name and his Father’s name written on their foreheads. And I heard a voice from heaven like the sound of many waters and like the sound of loud thunder; the voice I heard was like the sound of harpists playing on their harps, and they sing a new song before the throne and before the four living creatures and before the elders. No one could learn that song except the one hundred forty-four thousand who have been redeemed from the earth."

There is familiar symbolism here: the mark of the beast - 666.  The numbers were important and representative in that day.  I suspect that we do not really know all of what it stands for however it represents the demands and loyalty of an evil Empire. Powerful forces coerce people to be marked by and identified with the dragon, Rome. But at the very instant when the mark of the beast is named as 666, the vision before John is redirected to a Lamb, not a false illusion but the true Lamb of God standing on Mount Zion.  Just like that, the forces of evil are put in their place and the symbolic number of 144,000, those who bear the name of God have his name written on their foreheads.  144,000: 12 tribes of Israel multiplied by 12,000 – there are all kinds of associations that can be made with that number.  The numbers 12 and 7 and their derivatives are holy numbers representing God, completion and shalom.  The number 6 is a number of chaos and incompleteness; a number that stood for danger and evil. 

The point is that God and God’s mark on the forehead have far more enduring power than the mark of the beast.  This is the message for difficult times, for times of tribulation and destruction and death.  This is the hope that is offered for the faithful, those who have died and now appear in visions dressed in white robes washed by the blood of the Lamb.  This is powerful imagery and imagery that we are at risk of interpreting in a way that makes God look bloodthirsty. Be careful. Humans are the ones who thirst for blood not God. There is judgment and reckoning that occurs in the cosmic scheme of things. In John’s fantastic vision it is described as the Wrath of God: dragons and beasts are thrown down into the lake of fire to be left to their own devices forever.  

Revelation 19:11-16 - scripture reader
"Then I saw heaven opened, and there was a white horse! Its rider is called Faithful and True, and in righteousness he judges and makes war. His eyes are like a flame of fire, and on his head are many diadems; and he has a name inscribed that no one knows but himself. He is clothed in a robe dipped in blood, and his name is called The Word of God. And the armies of heaven, wearing fine linen, white and pure, were following him on white horses. From his mouth comes a sharp sword with which to strike down the nations, and he will rule them with a rod of iron; he will tread the wine press of the fury of the wrath of God the Almighty. On his robe and on his thigh he has a name inscribed, ‘King of kings and Lord of lords’."

And so the story continues as the last battles are mounted and 7 plagues are thrown from great bowls upon the earth one after the other.  The Lord God allows these things to happen and is aware that his people are suffering and dying. The reality of our world is that in the choices people make others will be often suffer.  Evil people and evil rulers cause terror and pain and death.  God creates a world in which we have choices and there are times and places where those choices deal in death and destruction. The people of Iraq and Syria and the Crimea today would identify with these visions without any stretch of the imagination. The ultimate message is however that the good which God desires for the earth and for all humanity will eventually prevail.  This is the great hope in times of war and trauma and loss.  In the midst of our worst nightmares a new world comes into being.

 Revelation 21:1-2  - scripture reader
 "Then I saw a new heaven and a new earth; for the first heaven and the first earth had passed away, and the sea was no more. And I saw the holy city, the new Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from God, prepared as a bride adorned for her husband."

The Holy City – Robert Dick

Revelation 21: 3-7 - scripture reader
"And I heard a loud voice from the throne saying,
‘See, the home of God is among mortals.
He will dwell with them;
they will be his peoples,
and God himself will be with them;
he will wipe every tear from their eyes.
Death will be no more;
mourning and crying and pain will be no more,
for the first things have passed away.’
 And the one who was seated on the throne said, ‘See, I am making all things new.’ Also he said, ‘Write this, for these words are trustworthy and true.’ Then he said to me, ‘It is done! I am the Alpha and the Omega, the beginning and the end. To the thirsty I will give water as a gift from the spring of the water of life. Those who conquer will inherit these things, and I will be their God and they will be my children."

This is the hope and the promise of our God who is faithful.  The end is never the end. When the end of tribulation arrives in the safe haven of the New Jerusalem, the new world of God’s making, those who suffer come home. Whatever we live through, whatever we lose, when the time comes that we die, God promises to make things new and safe and alive.  God says, “Those who conquer will inherit these things, and I will be their God and they will be my children.”

Prayer
Into your hands, O God, we commend our lives. In you we know that we have been given the water of life as a gift. May we live our lives in the assurance of your presence through all things and for all eternity, life with you!  AMEN