Several times a month I get requests from people asking what would be the best books to read on Revelation. I kept a quick little list in a pages file, but on the recommendadtion of my friend Andy I decided to create an Amazon Listmania list.
Here are the books that made the first round. I want to spend some more time thinking of a few other books. With the exception of Beale's commentary all of these are appropriate for the average person wanting to start studying Revelation.
A few weeks back a good friend of mine retweeted this tweet and attached me to it.
Read Revelation 21 while playing Brian Eno's "The Big Ship."You're welcome.
— Evangelical Hipster (@evnglcalhipster) July 22, 2012
I was thankful. While it might have been done in jest, I think it was almost totally on the money. The song provides a wonderful soundtrack to reading Revelation 21. It makes reading such a beautiful chapter a multisensory experience.
So take a few minutes today and try this out. I felt it fit really well.
Revelation 21 (The Message)
I saw Heaven and earth new-created. Gone the first Heaven, gone the first earth, gone the sea.
2 I saw Holy Jerusalem, new-created, descending resplendent out of Heaven, as ready for God as a bride for her husband.
3-5 I
heard a voice thunder from the Throne: “Look! Look! God has moved into
the neighborhood, making his home with men and women! They’re his
people, he’s their God. He’ll wipe every tear from their eyes. Death is
gone for good—tears gone, crying gone, pain gone—all the first order of
things gone.” The Enthroned continued, “Look! I’m making everything new.
Write it all down—each word dependable and accurate.”
6-8 Then
he said, “It’s happened. I’m A to Z. I’m the Beginning, I’m the
Conclusion. From Water-of-Life Well I give freely to the thirsty.
Conquerors inherit all this. I’ll be God to them, they’ll be sons and
daughters to me. But for the rest—the feckless and faithless,
degenerates and murderers, sex peddlers and sorcerers, idolaters and all
liars—for them it’s Lake Fire and Brimstone. Second death!”
9-12 One
of the Seven Angels who had carried the bowls filled with the seven
final disasters spoke to me: “Come here. I’ll show you the Bride, the
Wife of the Lamb.” He took me away in the Spirit to an enormous, high
mountain and showed me Holy Jerusalem descending out of Heaven from God,
resplendent in the bright glory of God.
12-14 The
City shimmered like a precious gem, light-filled, pulsing light. She
had a wall majestic and high with twelve gates. At each gate stood an
Angel, and on the gates were inscribed the names of the Twelve Tribes of
the sons of Israel: three gates on the east, three gates on the north,
three gates on the south, three gates on the west. The wall was set on
twelve foundations, the names of the Twelve Apostles of the Lamb
inscribed on them.
15-21 The
Angel speaking with me had a gold measuring stick to measure the City,
its gates, and its wall. The City was laid out in a perfect square. He
measured the City with the measuring stick: twelve thousand stadia, its
length, width, and height all equal. Using the standard measure, the
Angel measured the thickness of its wall: 144 cubits. The wall was
jasper, the color of Glory, and the City was pure gold, translucent as
glass. The foundations of the City walls were garnished with every
precious gem imaginable: the first foundation jasper, the second
sapphire, the third agate, the fourth emerald, the fifth onyx, the sixth
carnelian, the seventh chrysolite, the eighth beryl, the ninth topaz,
the tenth chrysoprase, the eleventh jacinth, the twelfth amethyst. The
twelve gates were twelve pearls, each gate a single pearl.
21-27 The
main street of the City was pure gold, translucent as glass. But there
was no sign of a Temple, for the Lord God—the Sovereign-Strong—and the
Lamb are the Temple. The City doesn’t need sun or moon for light. God’s
Glory is its light, the Lamb its lamp! The nations will walk in its
light and earth’s kings bring in their splendor. Its gates will never be
shut by day, and there won’t be any night. They’ll bring the glory and
honor of the nations into the City. Nothing dirty or defiled will get
into the City, and no one who defiles or deceives. Only those whose
names are written in the Lamb’s Book of Life will get in.
I am pretty odd. I know that. I like bigfoot. I could eat catfish every meal. My favorite book of scripture is Revelation.
Yep, that book. The scary one. The one the ruddy faced street preacher always hollers about.
This month I begin a series at St. Paul's called "Leaving Left Behind Behind". I am hoping to really show how Revelation doesn't serve as an escape plan, but an exercise in continually focusing on Jesus Christ as the center of everything.
There is hesitancy surrounding the book of Revelation and many times it is simply ignored...which then creates greater hesitancy. It is important because how Revelation has influenced our own lives, how we think about mission, politics, and so much of popular culture revolves around ideas that have been brought about through people reading it. The last few years have been a pattern of predictions of the end and we are coming up on a pretty big one in just a couple of months.
G.K. Chesterton, a british writer and theologian said this...”Though St. John saw many strange monsters in his vision, he saw no creature so wild as one of his own commentators”
With that, let's jump into the scriptures
4 Then
I looked, and, oh!—a door open into Heaven. The trumpet-voice, the
first voice in my vision, called out, “Ascend and enter. I’ll show you
what happens next.”
2-6 I
was caught up at once in deep worship and, oh!—a Throne set in Heaven
with One Seated on the Throne, suffused in gem hues of amber and flame
with a nimbus of emerald. Twenty-four thrones circled the Throne, with
Twenty-four Elders seated, white-robed, gold-crowned. Lightning flash
and thunder crash pulsed from the Throne. Seven fire-blazing torches
fronted the Throne (these are the Sevenfold Spirit of God). Before the
Throne it was like a clear crystal sea.
6-8 Prowling
around the Throne were Four Animals, all eyes. Eyes to look ahead, eyes
to look behind. The first Animal like a lion, the second like an ox,
the third with a human face, the fourth like an eagle in flight. The
Four Animals were winged, each with six wings. They were all eyes,
seeing around and within. And they chanted night and day, never taking a
break:
Holy, holy, holy Is God our Master, Sovereign-Strong, The Was, The Is, The Coming.
9-11 Every
time the Animals gave glory and honor and thanks to the One Seated on
the Throne—the age-after-age Living One—the Twenty-four Elders would
fall prostrate before the One Seated on the Throne. They worshiped the
age-after-age Living One. They threw their crowns at the foot of the
Throne, chanting,
Worthy, O Master! Yes, our God! Take the glory! the honor! the power! You created it all; It was created because you wanted it.
Revelation scares most folk. It used to scare me. Long time readers will know this is a fear that was conquered in the past and instead turned into a love. Over the last few days I have been reading, reflecting and praying through John’s vision in Revelation chapters 4 and 5.
One of the beautiful things about a life with scripture is how new insights come and new truth is spoken into our life. I want to share with you a few brief thoughts about Revelation chapter 5.
The focus of chapter 5 is a scroll residing in the right hand of God. The issue surrounding this scroll is that no one is able to open it. But in the midst of John’s tears over the issue he is told of one who is able. The lion of the tribe of Judah can open it. John is pointed to a lamb standing as though it had been sacrificed. It bore the marks of its death, but is clearly living and power is found because of its previous dead state. Christ is both the lion and the lamb. Augustine has some great words about this paradox, you can read them in a previous post here.
The worship of heaven declares the lamb as “worthy” and in many different regards. What struck me over the last few days is the fact only one deliberate action directed towards others is given. We can find it in 5:10..”and you have caused them to be a kingdom of priests for our God. And they will reign on the earth.”
Here are a couple lessons I this teaches us.
The comforting words we find in Revelation 5 give us encouragement in the midst of mild to severe need. Our story of “i CAN’T do this” is changed to “I can’t do this”. We find relief in the fact Jesus holds time in his hand. If this sounds familiar, you probably are thinking of the line from Chris Tomlin’s “How Great is Our God”. The scroll Christ was able to open symbolizes the world and it’s history. Jesus holds all this together and because of this we can relax. We can admit we can’t do some things. But we trust. This is a trust that takes surrender. We can say it all we want...but we won’t find the comfort until we truly live in it. The journey is us learning to change our phrase.
I can’t do this....but Jesus certainly can.
In action, Christ calls us to be a kingdom of priests. This chapter talks alot about Jewish worship practices. Instead of a select few being responsible for the praise and intimate life that worship leadership gives us with God, through the death of Christ we all of this life available. The vocation of praise belongs to all Christians. This is directly tied to how we live on this earth, in our present and also in the future.
We need to let Jesus do his job. Then he allowes us to participate in a job much bigger than us.
I hope you enjoyed this Saturday in Scripture. How do you need to let Christ take care of things in your life?
The character of Revelation makes an auditory involvement necessary. In country terms; We need to HEAR Revelation.
Those in the company of preachers must learn to call the church to its eschatological dwelling place. In the enterprise of the earthly church taking Revelation back, local pastors serve both as truck drivers and road crew. We direct the energy as well as take care of the movement so that the laity can travel alongside. Intentionally preaching eschatologically means a deliberate admonition of the end that comes across as assured as the deliberate notions of beginning. Our role is to theologically play the childhood game of “connect the dots”. We are story-tellers, not date-setters.
As pastors we must tell people about the other world, living in the the subversive act of preached hope. Instead of romantic historical meanderings that lament morals gone amuck, we focus on preached time. Preached time creates the path to New Jerusalem. This alternate narrative answers the question of who really is in charge.
Whenever I teach Revelation to a new group of people, I start with a question. It goes something like this; "I am going to let you make a decision as to how we will read this book and how I will teach it to you. We can either let Revelation be a book that only pertains to a distinct group of people at only one time in the history of the world or we can read it as though it has informed the church for 2000 years and will continue to speak to us."
I have never had a group take option A. Even if they are hardcore Left Behinders, the second choice just sounds better. If teaching Revelation freaks you out, let the congregation make the first choice. Present to them a basic reading strategy. It will allow you to stay away from so many testy issues.
Revelation doesn't work in a passive setting. We have to be intentional and deliberate with it, but shouldn't we with all scripture?
Glory be to the Father, Son and Holy Spirit: As it was in the beginning, is now, and shall ever be, world without end.
++ This is a repost from a blog I ran for a few years postmoderneschatology.com. I have decided to merge that content in with this blog and will occasionally post from its archives.
While I am doing some site maintanence work with both blogs (I also run a blog on eschatology called World Without End), I decided to share some posts between the two, posting some of the best of 2010 at the other blog. This is from last June and it was one of my favorites.
+++
One of the classic country songs is the seminal "A Country Boy Can Survive". I remember driving around listening to this song in college and loving it. It was enough of a cultural marker to be parodied by the rantings of a homeless man in Canadian post-rock Godspeed You! Black Emperor's song Providence. I think it functions as a great marker of a secular and escapist eschatology.
The preacher man says it’s the end of time And the Mississippi River she’s a goin’ dry The interest is up and the Stock Markets down And you only get mugged If you go down town
I live back in the woods, you see A woman and the kids, and the dogs and me I got a shotgun rifle and a 4-wheel drive And a country boy can survive Country folks can survive
I can plow a field all day long I can catch catfish from dusk till dawn We make our own whiskey and our own smoke too Ain’t too many things these ole boys can’t do We grow good ole tomatoes and homemade wine And a country boy can survive Country folks can survive
Because you can’t starve us out And you cant makes us run Cause one-of- ‘em old boys raisin ole shotgun And we say grace and we say Ma’am And if you ain’t into that we don’t give a damn
We came from the West Virginia coalmines And the Rocky Mountains and the and the western skies And we can skin a buck; we can run a trot-line And a country boy can survive Country folks can survive
I had a good friend in New York City He never called me by my name, just hillbilly My grandpa taught me how to live off the land And his taught him to be a businessman He used to send me pictures of the Broadway nights And I’d send him some homemade wine
But he was killed by a man with a switchblade knife For 43 dollars my friend lost his life Id love to spit some beechnut in that dudes eyes And shoot him with my old 45 Cause a country boy can survive Country folks can survive
We’re from North California and south Alabam And little towns all around this land And we can skin a buck; we can run a trot-line And a country boy can survive Country folks can survive
The interesting thing about this song (written in 1981) is the cultural ideas of both escapism and separatism, manifest in Williams thematic description of the city as a dangerous and ruthless place. It was also re-written and re-released in 1999 by Chad Brock in reference to the supposed Y2K catastrophe.
For those who live in the country, life skills held are what separate them from those who have migrated to the city. It will be these skills that will allow them to function inside an apocalyptic scenario, and ultimately be the holders of power (another interesting marker). If anything, this song serves as an introduction to the phenomena of survivalism.
For Christians, this isn't a good view because it places the realm of trust inside of self-sufficiency, either individual or cultural. The mark of individuality makes Bocephus thoroughly postmodern, although I imagine I would get chewing tobacco spit in my eye if I accused him of such. One of the patterns that needs to be developing in the current church culture is the reliance and separation from current systems and instead placed in Christ and His kingdom. The Church is the alternative city, instead of a set of skills and a cultural marker. Where Hank mentions saying "grace", it is placed in the context of a general moral structure, looped in with niceties such as "ma'am". Faith is mentioned as a passing nod towards a cultural system that is propped up instead by distinction and self-reliance. To a Christian, faith in the promise of God as well as reliance on His faithfulness is the foundation of a hope centered eschatology.
I hope this little piece shows how much these ideas have crept into mainstream society, even in a 30 year old country song.
Glory be to the Father, Son and Holy Spirit; As it was in the beginning, is now and ever shall be
Often I think about how the worship leader describes him or herself. Even in the idea of resumes and job applications. I remember reading one once where the leader in question noted the distinct ability to bring people to the throne of God quicker and better than others.....
There are several things troubling about that statement, but one has stuck out the most in the last few months. What action are we doing in Christian worship that makes it distinct from any other religion? Attributing qualities to God, or praising his character with our devoted actions? These are elements of worship, but they are just that....elements. Ultimately, the gathered qualities of worship are what make it Christian worship. Yes-our worship is Triune and Yes-our worship is pointed towards the distinct eternal worldview of the Christian. In the end, all worship is eschatological in nature (and yes, I know that I can get to the end of the world in two steps), and this is what makes it distinctly Christian.
In this manner, the throne room language becomes very important. I say this because we shouldn't escape in worship. Often we might hear something like this, "Just prepare yourself for worship in any way that is comfortable to you". Somehow, in the last century, we have understood worship as an individual action. But historically that wasn't the case. Worship was seen as an earthly reality of the company of heaven. When we want to "go to the throne room", we want worship to be a pragmatic event and take us out of this world. We want to set boundaries on our home, sinful as it may be, and be taken out of it.
Instead, I want to challenge you to this. Think of worship as the realization of the Kingdom of God on earth. In worship, we grab hold of the reality that Christ gave us and we pull it down to earth. We remember Revelation 21 when we find out that the home of God will be on the redeemed earth with His people. Yes, worship is a beautiful vision of the Triune God. But worship is what also gives us the eyes to see the reality that He is in this world through the incarnation of Jesus Christ. In worship, through our devotion our tears are wiped away (Rev 7:17 and 21:4), and grace remakes us.
I have the opportunity to preach from my favorite book of the bible this week, St. John's Apocalypse...or as most people know it Revelation.
Usually when I actually have time to prepare a sermon, I like to do a mind map before I start writing the sermon. It is another way of doing an outline, but it helps me trace a non-linear pattern through the text. It works for folks that are scatter brained like I am.
I have different sorts of annotations that I use, and the scan didn't show some highlighted colors, but this style works well for me. I imagine I could preach from the mind map if I needed, but I am trying to become more of a wordsmith, and that requires doing some writing beforehand.
Revelation is a non-linear book, and I think that in this particular situation mind-mapping works well. One of the major ways to tie the book together is the Μετὰ ταῦτα εἶδον passages (translated as After this I saw/looked in many English translations). These phrases string together a series of visionary experiences that weren't sequential, but descriptive of an "all at once" experience (seen in 4:1,7:1,7:9.15:, 18:1 and 19:1). Due to the cycliromatic nature of Revelation and it's ordering-mind mapping allows you to preach from the same style as the visions are portrayed.
Some of you know that I also run a blog devoted to understanding Eschatology in a postmodern context. That means that I talk about the End of the World in relation to our current society. I rarely cross post here, but I decided to today, just to point you at what I imagine might be an interesting series of writings. It also references worship design and implementing scripture using the Lectionary.
As a worship designer, I often point folk to the Vanderbilt Lectionary website (an online RCL
help), to find scripture to use throughout a service. This is great
even if they are in a thematic service, because it will allow them to
have a wide spread of scripture available to them.
You might have noticed that the Easter readings
for this year take people through five passages in Revelation. These
happen to be five of my favorite parts of the book This is a great way
to jump into Revelation for the first time.
Just last night I was
having a conversation with a friend and mentioned that much of my
fascination with Revelation is the deep desire to help the church take
back this book. I really think I went for at least 18 years without a
sermon or lesson on Revelation. This is our Book.
The fear that has been given to the book of Revelation can only be
eradicated by reading the book. This verses are a great primer.
The
5 readings give a great overview of the book, and follow redemption’s
story. You get some hymnic passages and the great narrative in 21 that
I have preached on before. You miss chapter 19, but that is my only
real complaint.
Take the book back.
Glory be to the Father, Son and Holy Spirit; As it was in the beginning, is now and ever shall be
I wrote a paper this last semester on Hospitality and Eschatology. My professor first thought it would be a hard topic to write on, but after I spent around a month thinking about it, I realized that it would be the opposite. I usually do post series when I write an academic paper here on the blog, but since it is 17+ pages I will refrain. I uploaded the entire paper to my scribd.com account, and I will link to it at the bottom.
I also decided instead to post a reduced version of it this week over at postmoderneschatology.com. I am growing towards an understanding that simpler is always better, and realizing that I am not an academic (and I like it that way).
