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A week ago, Friday, after I got out of the shower, I heard Lori yelling from downstairs, “We have a leak!” Which to be honest is NOT what you want to hear after you shut off the water in the tub. Those words are usually a harbinger of bad news and costly repairs. With doubts in my mind, I went downstairs and sure enough, water was leaking from the tub. I had a new project to start!
The good news is that I was quickly able to diagnose the problem as being leaky caulking around the base of the tub surround. That was a relief because I really did not want to rip out the bathtub and fix the piping. So, I got my tools out and started removing the old caulk from the tub. To make a long story short, the pink tile and the drywall underneath it are gone, and the pink tub is ready to be ripped out. I could have avoided the project for another go around, but a bathroom remodel is something that we have wanted to do for fourteen years. We haven’t had the energy, money, or willpower to do – I was always afraid that I would be biting off more than I could chew.
That is sort of how I feel about the book of Revelation! I have been a pastor now for almost thirty years, with around 15 of those at Green Timbers. In those thirty years I have completely shied away from the book of Revelation. It just hasn’t been something I have wanted to tackle. Sure, I have preached a sermon or two that used some texts from the book, but that is more like just resurfacing a tub. It doesn’t really get to what will make a difference in our lives. You have to just jump right in and rip into it. This Thursday we are going to do just that. And I promise you, I will not make you swing a hammer or help me lift out the tub, but I will be asking you to work. I hope you will help me dig in and build something beautiful.
Part of the reason that I have shied away from the book of Revelation is that it is a complex book with many layers – it is a lot of work! There is no simple understanding of the book and therefore no simple study with simple answers. It is not direct teaching that we can extract life directions such as “love your enemy” and “prayer without ceasing” that we can then try to put into practice and fall short. Revelation requires an understanding of the Old and New Testament. It requires an understanding of world history and Jewish and Christian prophecy. It requires an understanding of the problems of evil and empire as well as a deep trust that God is in control. That is asking a lot – a lot of work!
Another reason for my trepidation in launching into a study like this is that too many of us think we understand what Revelation is saying. We think that the story lays out God’s plan for the end of the world and assume that, with the help of modern-day interpreters, we can see those signs happening. There have been many “end of the world” type predictions that have led people astray because of ideas that “jump out” from the pages of Revelation. Many have used the words to create a sense of urgency and behaviour control through fear. Depending on what age you are, you might have been forced to watch A Thief in the Night, or sit through lectures on Hal Lindsay’s The Late Great Planet Earth, or been entertained or scarred by the Left Behind Series. These all stem from what I would call a surface reading of Revelation. If you are looking for the answer about what will happen at the end of the world according to Revelation, I will save you some time. God wins – He is the beginning and the end.
But if you are wanting to be brought into the long story of God… If you are wanting to deal with the power of “modern day empires” and political challenges to our faith… If you are wanting to be called into a deeper faith and understanding of who God is and how God works… If you are wanting to use your imagination to experience the beauty of the scriptures… If you want to see Jesus… that is the promise of the book:
Look! he is coming with the clouds;
every eye will see him,
even those who pierced him;
and on his account all tribes of the earth will wail
So it is to be. Amen
‘I am the Alpha and the Omega,’ says the Lord God,
who is and who was and who is to come.
Eugene Peterson invites us to enter into these last words of the Bible for the purpose of understanding our lives now. “The task of these theologians [such as the author of Revelation] is to demonstrate a gospel order in the chaos of evil and arrange the elements of experience and reason so that they are perceived proportionately and coherently: sin, defeat, discouragement, prayer, suffering, persecution, praise and politics are placed in relation to the realities of God and Christ, holiness and healing, heaven and hell, victory and judgment, beginning and ending. Their achievement is that the community of persons who live by faith in Christ continue to live with a reasonable hope and an intelligent love.”
May that be true for us as we seek Jesus together in the pages of Revelation. May we “continue to live with a reasonable hope and an intelligent love.” This renovation/reformation project might be a lot of work, but I am looking forward to seeing just what this will look like as we go beyond the surface and build our faith.
