Wednesday 14 November 2007

Background

Our theme of God standing alongside those who remain faithful inthe face of testing and suffering, and declaring them to be hispeople, finds, perhaps, its richest and fullest expression here atthe end of Revelation.

The aim of the book was to encourage and exhort its readers tostand firm and hold fast to their faith in Jesus Christ as the onewho had died and been raised again, and not to give in to thepressure to either renounce or compromise that faith whenconfronted by Roman persecution or by 'false teachings'.

Quite what these 'false teachings' were we don't really know, butevidently there were a lot of them around, many of them denyingthat Jesus Christ was, in some way, to be identified as God. (Thequestion of the precise relationship between 'Jesus' and 'God' wassomething that occupied the finest minds in the Church for severalmore centuries.) But what is clear is that John's readers were toregard themselves as the true people of God, holding the true faithin Christ. And here, in this passage, is the ultimate hope thatkeeps them going.

John describes a 'new heaven' (not like the old one, which waspopulated by all sorts of evil 'principalities and powers',according to ancient mythology); a 'new earth' (not like the oldone, under the rule of Rome); and a 'new Jerusalem' (not like theold one, which was the focus of the Judaism which they hadincreasingly rejected).

And the 'new Jerusalem', like the old Israel, is the 'bride' of God- God's chosen people - and God will make his presence known amongthem, just as he had done in the time of the Exodus from Egypt. Andeven death (symbolised by the 'sea' in verse 1) will no longer havepower over them. And God (or Jesus - it's not quite clear who)speaks from his throne to assure his people that all this is,indeed, as he has said. Those who stand firm in their faith will,indeed, be revealed as the true children of God.

To Ponder

We may understand the universe rather differentlyfrom when John wrote these words. How might that affect the way weread them?

Some readers may think that the destruction ofheaven and earth is a rather high price to pay for the faithful tobe revealed as God's children. What do you think?

Verse 8 goeson to describe the fate of those who are not God's children. Why doyou think our reading stopped at verse 7?