Revelation: Just look in the other direction!

When you look to the future long enough, sometimes you don’t see what’s right behind you. Most studies of the book of Revelation look so far into the beyond that they miss John’s obsession, the immediate past.

Honestly, people are confused!

I know! For over 40 years confused me also! I attended many Bible studies, attended lectures, conferences, read multitudes of magazine articles, many books, and even took six classes in college and seminary to understand eschatology, the book of Revelation and the end of the world … but I always walked out shaking my head. The facts I understood kept getting tangled (like yarn) and when I sought to straighten the lessons, I found conflicting ideas and things that just did not add up!

People told me I had to follow the correct belief … was that Premillennial with a pre, mid or post-tribulation twist; the amillennial view or postmillennial view? Was it prettiest, dispensationalist, futurist, idealist or Calvinist? Is it historicism, historical dispensationalism, inaugurated eschatology, signs of the times, spiritualist, rapturist, escapist, or historical eras of the seven churches? … Is your head spinning? Mine is, so I will take a break to include a picture.

So, what does Revelation say about the world’s ending?

From all my reading, listening, and classes, I can tell you that what I hear from the loudest voices is that the ending most people are seeking is like a good novel: very revealing and sensational. The book, lecture or sermon is better with more confusion, action, twists, turns, and both minor and major revelations. In my experience, revivalists are better than small-town preachers at whipping up excitement (and ignoring the facts), and both can put together a better tall tale than I can. So I won’t tell you how the world will end … The best I can do is to share (which I do in my new book) how the world did end.

Isn’t John a prophet who tells about the future like Ezekiel or Daniel?

In all my classes I never learned about that, sorry. What I learned is that the prophets to whom you refer were spokespersons to whom God assigned the work of explaining the events of their times. Take Ezekiel, for instance … and you can also include Jeremiah in this answer. These two prophets told why God allowed Nebuchadnezzar to destroy the Temple and deport Judah into captivity during their lifetime. The facts that they reported and the rebukes from God were clear to the priests, rulers, and people of their time. John repeats many of them for his time. And the messages of these prophets are appropriate for our time as well. And they will probably be twisted and rejected in our current time period, just as they were then. (Let the reader understand!)

Isaiah encouraged King Hezekiah during the time of the Assyrian attacks, as did Micah. Zechariah, Haggai, and Malachi were prophets assigned to promote the building of the Temple (I explain in my book how most futurists miss the context of Zechariah 1). Daniel explains the wars between the Seleucids of Parthia and the Ptolemys of Egypt. He highlights the coming of Antiochus Epiphanies and the destruction of the Temple. (Many Christians miss this one because it happened in the 400 years of “silence,” like the story of the Maccabees and their Hasmonean kingdom that occurred between the close of the Old Testament and the opening of the New Testament).

If the message of Revelation is for today, do you think it is the age of Laodicea?

Laodecia or Aquarius, I am not sure. In my reading (of current, nineteenth century, eighteenth century, tenth or fourth century) of historic writings, it seems the church is always in the age of Laodecia (which is Greek for Justice for the People). The age of Laodecia to which you refer actually occurred during the third century BEC. That is when Antiochus II Theos founded Laodecia on the Lycos (yes, one of the seven cities mentioned in Revelation) and named it for his wife, Laodice I.   

And the way you are thinking of churches is incorrect. First: in the generation of John, when the church was young they were probably called synagogues and often struggled to have a minyan in worship (look it up!) They were not mega churches like today (or like the later church in Laodecia, pictured below). The Greek word John uses is ekklesia, “people who are called” for a meeting (this can be religious, community, or just for a dinner party!) 

I will reveal something included in my book on this topic: The time of Laodecia is Shav’uot, the festival of first fruits (yes, the time of the grape harvest and winemaking), listed among the festivals in Leviticus 23 and Numbers 28-29, and one of the seven Jewish holy days honored from the time of Jesus even until our current era.

Well then, the whole book must be about the victory of Jesus over Satan

Yes, that happens in the final four chapters of the Apocalypse, but to say it that way glosses over what I feel the Apocalypse really reveals. The battle to which you are speaking occurs in Revelation 19-20 and is a conclusion of many things mentioned in the book of Revelation. The millennium, so abused above and by the various teachers who invent huge timelines of activity to excite people about the end of the age arises from what John wrote in Revelation 20:1-7 (while that is only seven verses, with lots of commentary and creative writing it can become a whole theology). My book will explain how the millennium is actually a Sabbath, a day of rest. ‘Where do you get that??” I am glad you asked. 

The Bible says, “I saw an angel coming down out of heaven, having the key to the Abyss and holding in his hand a great chain. He seized the dragon, that ancient serpent, who is the devil, or Satan, and bound him for a thousand years. He threw him into the Abyss, and locked and sealed it over him, to keep him from deceiving the nations anymore until the thousand years ended.“ (Rev 20:1-3)

Satan thrown into the Abyss, locked up, sealed and unable to deceive the nations, if that is not a Sabbath rest, I am not sure what is!

If none of what I heard is agreeable to you, what do you think Revelation is about?

As I said at the beginning, the prophet speaks to his current age, so John must be talking about the time in which he is living, the first century.

To understand Revelation, we must turn around and look in the other direction (yes, a Jewish idea, like writing in Hebrew, which goes from right to left). Instead of looking to the future, we must look to the past. John the prophet (elder and apostle) is sharing a message from God about a crisis that happened in his lifetime, but a few years before the writing of the book of Revelation. Do you know what that was?

–> No, but I am sure you will tell me …

Of course. The book of Revelation tells why God destroyed the Temple and the entire city of Jerusalem. Between one and two million people died in what is called the First Jewish War (about one third of the Jewish population of the world). Because the siege that began the destruction occurred on Passover (a major holiday) almost every Jewish family in the world was affected. John mourned for many of his friends who died during the destruction. Jews to this day mourn because the Temple was destroyed (and break wine glasses at weddings). 

I do not think John was so inspired by the destruction of Jerusalem that he wrote the timeline leading up to the end of the world, described the unmerciful punishment of non-believers that included ruptured Christians looking down from heaven and cheering like their favorite team was slaughtering an opponent, and afterward receiving mansions on golden streets.

I believe John asked why the Almighty King of the Universe would allow a catastrophic destruction cultic center of the Jewish world, gave an accurate report of the trauma (as reported by the eyewitness and historian Josephus), and shared hope that God would return joy to the people of faith in the future.

I explain everything in my new book,” John’s Apocalypse: A Jewish Idea.” The book contains facts, quotes from people who experienced the destruction, rabbinic thought, scripture references, and lots of footnotes. Please, pick up a copy and tell me what you think.