Monday 30 July 2012

Background

Revelation is one of those trickybooks of the Bible. Tricky to find; go too far and you end up inthe biblical maps, don't go far enough and you get lost among theletters of James, Peter, Jude, etc. Then again, maybe that's justme…

It is even more tricky to understand.Revelation is filled with indecipherable imagery, arcane andmetaphorical language, and implausible juxtaposition. Debate hasraged for centuries whether Revelation best describes the writer'spresent or the reader's future.

The book purports to be a collation ofvisions of John the Divine whilst in the Spirit. Note thepersistent use of the first person. This is a book set in adreamscape. If you've ever struggled to put into words a complex ortroubling dream, you have some idea of the task before the writerof Revelation and its readers.

Chapter 5 is a vision of one seated ona throne, flanked on 4 sides by 4 awesome creatures and surroundedby 24 elders. This one holds a scroll whose seven seals none inheaven or earth could be found worthy to open.

As John despairs that none would befound to open the seals he is told, "See, the Lion of Judah" (v.5). When John looks, however, he sees not a Lion but a Lamb thathas been slaughtered. The Lamb alone is able to open the seals. Andas the Lamb takes the scroll, the elders and the creatures burstinto a new song of praise (verses 9-10).

John's vision of heaven in chapters 4and 5, on the one hand, makes use of familiar imagery; people inwhite robes feature, as do harps, rainbows, thrones, and angelicsinging. On the other hand, it is also an unfamiliar vision ofterrifying creatures, thunder and lightning, blood, and aslaughtered Lamb.

Two things remain constant throughout.First, the otherness of this vision - heaven, as envisioned byJohn, is not merely an extrapolation of earth. It is pre-eminently'other' or transcendent. Second, the glory of God and of God'sChrist is paramount. All creation bows in worship before the gloryof God.

To Ponder

• What is your initial emotional response to the vision of heavendescribed in John's account?

• What do you think we are meant to draw out of the intertwinedimages of Lion and Lamb in verses 5-6?

• In what ways can we as "saints from every tribe and language"most fully acknowledge the glory of God?

• To what extent might the visions of John be intended aspictures of God's glory rather than pointers of what to expect inthe afterlife?