The End is Always Here

Since we will be reading from Revelation for All Saints Day this Sunday, I want to share with you some insights from the Fortress Press Bible Commentary on this highly controversial book. Triumphalistic, violent readings of Revelation have played a dark role in history. The book has proved irresistible to those in power, providing biblical justification for attacks on their enemies. The pop-culture view of the biblical book of Revelation (think “Left Behind”) was developed in the 19th century by British preacher John Nelson Darby and popularized by the Scofield Reference Bible. One of the key tenets of these futurist “premillennialists” has been that Zionism and (post-1948) the nation of Israel would play a pivotal role in what they view as God’s prophetic plan. Revelation’s suggestion of a battle of Armageddon provides the playbook for their understanding of a future World War III, read through a zealously nationalistic lens.

But biblical scholars reject premillennialism. They point out that the book’s images have multiple meanings and were not intended as a futurist script or timetable for geopolitical events, but a critique of the Roman Empire. The Greek word for what Revelation “shows” or “makes known” in the very first verse of the book is the same as the word for “signs” in John’s Gospel. The book has also resonated with many communities in situations of suffering, as a veiled symbolic critique of how imperial power works in their day and age. Indeed, liberationist voices have turned to Revelation as a message of hope for justice overcoming oppression in every day and age.

The takeaway? It is just plain wrong to read this apocalyptic text as prophecy about future events. Like most books, it is about the time it was written, when imperial oppression was high and courageous resistance gave people reason to hope. As such, it is a book about now as well. The triumph of the saints around the throne is happening right now, through the grace of God and the accomplishment of Christ. To think we need to force it is heresy of the highest order.

with love, Pr. Chelsea