Revelation is the "final exam" for understanding the goodness of God. If we don't already know the nature of God, we will never understand the book of Revelation. As Revelation 5 clearly shows, ONLY the divine nature and wisdom of Jesus is WORTHY and ABLE to unseal and open the mysteries of the book.
People usually advertise Revelation as revealing a God who is incredibly violent, wrathful and destructive. Yet, is this true? Is this violent image the true Lamb of God portrayed in Revelation? NO!
Revelation is chocked full of various themes of God's non-violent goodness:
1) Death and Hell will be destroyed by God's goodness (20:13-21:4).
2) Satan is overcome by our non-violent and sacrificial worship of God (12:11).
3) God's goodness makes all things new--- we receive a new name (2:17; 3:12), God creates a new Jerusalem (3:12; 21:12), we worship God with new songs (5:9; 14:3), there is a new Heaven and a new Earth, and ALL things are made brand new (21:5).
4) The words "worship" and "worshipped" appear more in the book of Revelation than in any other book of the Bible (4:8-11; 5:8-14; 7:11; 11:15-17; 14:7; 15:1-4; 19:10; 22:9). Some commentators actually believe Revelation is just one big worship service.
5) The Lamb shall be our ABSOLUTE and ONLY source of provision--- no more hunger (7:16), no more thirst (7:16), no more tears (7:17; 21:4), and even no more sun or moon, for the Lamb will be the light (21:23).
6) The theme of universal salvation is broached in Revelation 5:8-14, where "every creature in Heaven and on earth and under the earth and in the sea, and all that are in them, sing, 'To the one seated on the throne and to the Lamb be blessing and honor and glory and might forever and ever!'" Certainly sounds like all creatures, great and small, are reconciled back to worshipping God here--- bar none. Hallelujah!
7) The Marriage Supper of the Lamb is described, a celebration which joyfully heralds the defeat of evil and the full orgasmic union of Christ and His bride (19:4-10, 11-21).
BOTTOM LINE: Revelation is chocked full of goodness themes. It is not a book primarily about wrath and destruction, but rather life and restoration.
SO WHAT EXACTLY IS GOING ON IN REVELATION?
Have you ever been listening to your car radio, and because of poor reception you begin to hear two different radio signals at once? I remember driving late one night on a long road trip. I couldn't find a clear channel to listen to, but I did turn the dial to a setting where I could hear BOTH a Gospel music station AND a talk radio show where alien abductions were being discussed. Sometimes the stations alternated so that I could hear each station clearly for a few moments as the signals fought back and forth for dominance, while at other times they both played over each other simultaneously so that all I could hear was a garbled mess of mixed signals.
Well, this is exactly what is going on in Revelation. We are hearing more than one signal, and both are battling for dominance in our hearts. And often, those signals produce oxymoronic messages. The definition of "oxymoron" means, "A rhetorical figure in which incongruous or contradictory terms are combined, as, for example, in the following terms--- 'a deafening silence' and a 'mournful optimist.'"
The book of Revelation is full of oxymorons. "The wrath of the Lamb" is an oxymoron (6:16). Lambs don't have wrath. These images conceptually clash. "The wine of the wrath of God" is an oxymoron (14:10). Wine is a symbol of celebration, not wrath. The "Lake of Fire" (Revelation 19:20). How can water and fire occupy the same space? Again, theses images simply do not blend.
Let's consider some other oxymoronic imagery which pervades Revelation. Jesus is initially called the Lion of Judah in Revelation 5, but for the rest of the book is always referred to as "the Lamb"--- hardly the picture of a wrathful killer. Jesus is pictured with "a sword coming out of His mouth" in 19:15, an "image-clash" between "speaking words of truth" and "hacking enemies to death." In this same passage, Jesus is "treading" grapes in a winepress to make "the wine of the fierceness of His wrath." But again, wine is a symbol of celebration and joy, not of anger and wrath. These images clearly contradict each other, and so should give us pause when we seek to interpret them.
Violent images continually converge with non-violent images. "The wrath of the Lamb," (6:16) and "the wine of the wrath of God" (14:10) and "the winepress of the wrath of God" (9:15) and "the marriage supper of the Lamb... where ye eat the flesh of kings, captains and mighty men" (19:9) are all so contradictory. A lamb as an image of wrath? Wine, normally a symbol of joy and celebration, used as a symbol of wrath? A celebratory marriage feast where we eat the flesh of sinners? Jesus is portrayed as wearing a robe dipped in blood (19:13), but the blood is not His enemies but His own. How can a lake (Revelation 19:20), defined as a body of water, consist solely of fire? Oxymoronic images abound all through the book of Revelation.
What is going on here? Often, when oxymorons are profusely used as they are here, it is often because the author's intent is for us to totally deconstruct our presuppositions. By crashing these contradictory images into each other, the better truth then survives and arises victorious.
It is a battle of imagery where instruments of peace overcome brutal instruments of war. Swords are conceptually hammered into plough-shares. Instruments of wrath become attached to symbols of joy and celebration instead. God overcomes evil one way and one way only, with goodness. This is not theology but poetry. We need to see it as such and keep focused on the end of the matter: tears done away with, death done away with, pain done away with, Hell emptied, a new heaven and a new earth.
The book of Revelation is written in a style known as Jewish apocalyptic literature. It is heavily metaphorical, feverishly symbolic and incredibly non-linear in its exposition.
Theologians warn us NOT to read it literally for theological doctrine, but rather to read it poetically for mystically moving imagery.
As usual, what you have written is excellent, Richard! (But I am still a futurist :)
All prophecy points to a certain time and involves a certain generation. Jesus spoke of it as “this generation.” The prophets called it “that day.”
Although, thanks to you, I no longer believe God is violent, I still believe the major portion of the prophetic Scriptures, including Revelation, point to a crescendo of events which take place during a single generation—in the not too distant future. Beginning with the rise of Antichrist ("The Little Horn"; "The Assyrian"; "The Chaldean"; "The Man of Sin"; "The Lawless One"; "The Beast out of the Sea").
The process of officially evicting Satan begins when the Lamb starts breaking those seals on the title deed (Rev. 6). The coming violence is because Satan vehemently resists his eviction.
The Church must not ‘neglect its so great a salvation’ (Heb. 2:3) by passively allowing itself, or others, to be victimized by Satan. We need to bind death, and loose life. To “Be watchful, and strengthen the things which remain….” Rev. 3:2.
Blessings.
Posted by: Kevin | May 13, 2017 at 05:03 PM