The God of Revelation is the God of the whole of Scripture: righteous and true to judge the wicked and deliver His elect people. Revelation is a book of blood: the blood of the saints is shed by the wicked ('They cried out with a loud voice, "O Sovereign Lord, holy and true, how long before you will judge and avenge our blood on those who dwell on the earth?"' 6:10), the saints are redeemed by the blood of Jesus Christ ('by your blood you ransomed people for God from every tribe and language and people and nation' 5:9), and the earth is punished through the transformation of water into blood (8:8, 11:6, 16:4). In the final victory of the Lord over all His enemies, the winepress image is used from Isa 63: 'and blood flowed from the winepress, as high as a horse’s bridle, for 1,600 stadia.' (14:20) The wicked are not allowed to triumph; they may appear at times on earth to have won, but in the end they are all utterly destroyed. This is what the whole of creation has waited for since the Fall of man in Genesis 3.
As Goldsworthy explains, the first advent of Christ brought all time and history into crisis. The incarnation inaugurated the end time, and Jesus' death and resurrection defeated Satan and his time is now short (12:12). The cross guarantees God's final triumph and proclaims the presence of the future in the present age. Although it may seem paradoxical, Revelation announces the victory that is 'now' and yet also 'not now'. In chapter 1, John sees a vision of Jesus Christ which is unmistakably emphasising His lordship: 'the ruler of the kings of the earth' (1:5); 'the Alpha and the Omega' (1:8). He is the Son of man from Daniel 7, given authority over the nations. He proclaims: 'I am the First and the Last. I am the Living One; I was dead, and behold I am alive for ever and ever! And I hold the keys of death and Hades.' (1:17-18) There is no hint of doubt in Christ's ability to save those who come to Him. He has defeated death itself.
However, as the constant presence of martyrs in the book of Revelation reminds us, God's people must still face death whilst they are on earth. In fact, they must face brutal suffering, just as Jesus Himself did. Although we can say with confidence that our redemption is a finished work, there is undeniably a sense in which Revelation shows us a future completion of that redemption, in the new creation (see chapter 21). The vision of heaven in chapter 4-5 is an elaborate drama where John is reduced to weeping because there is no one worthy to open the sealed scroll. But then he is told that there IS one: 'the lion of the tribe of Judah... has conquered' (5:5). When he looks up, he sees 'a Lamb standing, as though it had been slain' (5:6). Here then is what Barnett describes as 'the crowning paradox of the gospel': Jesus is the Lion of Judah precisely because He is the Lamb who was slain. The fact that only He can open the scroll symbolises the fact that He is the key to the truth about the kingdom of God (Goldsworthy). Christ is the meaning of creation, and what God achieved in Christ is the goal of all His purposes as expressed in the Old Testament and the New. Therefore Goldworthy argues:
'The structure and message of Revelation is not based on a few spectacular events immediately preceding the second coming of Christ, but rather upon the historic facts of the gospel, the person and work of Jesus Christ.'
What, then, does Revelation teach us about the future? The answer is mainly that Christ's victory is secure, and therefore so is the future of the saints. In Jesus' messages to the seven churches in chapters 2-3, He makes seven different promises to 'the one who conquers' or 'overcomes'. Because He has already overcome, He will establish His faithful ones in Paradise. But in the present time, Jesus urges them to persevere (note that four of the churches are specifically commended for endurance or not denying the faith). As Goldsworthy argues, Jesus wills to extend His conquest into the lives of men and women through the preaching of the gospel, and this puts the church in the midst of the apocalyptic war. The struggles of the local churches to live out the gospel, to resist the impact of non-Christian values and ideas, and to stay true to the revelation of God in Jesus Christ, are all part of the conquest of the world through the gospel. Christians are not onlookers while a cosmic conflict rages in spiritual realms, but rather they are participants. Christ's 'mopping-up' campaign against Satan is actually being worked out in the front-line trenches of local church evangelism, pastoral care, teaching and preaching.
'Here is a call for the endurance of the saints' (14:12) John writes, and the vivid imagery of Satan as the dragon in chapter 12, and the terrifying beasts from the sea and from the earth in chapter 13, shows how God's people will be beset by the powers of evil in this present age. But the visions of the seven seals and seven trumpets and seven plagues, and finally the ruin of Babylon, show that God's judgement will be final and severe. All rebellion will be eliminated as the beast and Satan will be thrown into the lake of fire (ch19-20), and the new creation will be a return to the state of Eden with access given to the tree of life. 'They will see His face,and His Name will be on their foreheads' (22:4). Jesus declares, 'I am coming soon' (22:7), and though we do not know the day or the hour, we need to be ready for Him.
2 comments:
Dear Sophie,
I hope all is going well - it can only be a few days to go now!
I really don't get the Reformed interpretation of Revelation 12 - how on Earth can we ignore the woman's similarity to the Blessed Virgin Mary? The woman gives birth to a Son, who is to rule over all the earth with an iron rod, and who defeats a dragon! Were this Milton, I am quite sure we would have no difficulty in saying that this was Mary, Mother of God.
I am certainly not saying that we can't interpret the woman as the Church as well, but if she is the Church, then who is the Son who rules over the Earth? Surely we are not going to say that the Church gave birth to Christ! Or even harder for a Calvinist to say that the Church gave birth to even the Saints!
The Catholics can even add to their interpretation that the woman is clearly the Virgin Mary, because both Mary and the Church are considered the Mothers of the faithful and the whole world - thus the secondary interpretation (or even parallel interpretation) as the Church is not even contradictory to believing this woman to be the Virgin Mary.
If this is the case, we see that the Virgin Mary is "clothed in the Sun with the Moon under her feet and a crown of twelve stars above her head" - what more evidence could one want for saying that Mary is the Queen of Heaven! Whilst I can accept that this need not mean that a Calvinist change their devotions - if indeed one does not think that invocations of the Saints to help the faithful is good practice, this will not change - but at least accepting that Mary is the Queen of Heaven is surely plain?
I would then argue that since God has exalted Mary - as indeed He said He would ("All generations shall call me blessed") - there can be nothing wrong with our recognition of this fact, and hence our exalting of Mary as well.
Veneration of the Saints need not follow, but certainly exaltation (which can be reformulated or rethought of as invocation or devotion) of Mary is, as I see it, a plain consequence.
Anyway, good luck!
Phil
Dear Phil,
Thanks so much for commenting, and sorry I've taken so long to respond. Still waiting for baby to arrive but it's been quite busy.
I think that the details in Rev 12, that the woman is 'clothed with the sun, with the moon under her feet, and on her head a crown of twelve stars' show that she is more than just Mary, which is why reformers have interpreted her as representing Israel. The fact that she fled into the wilderness where she was nourished by God for 1260 days seems to suggest the time of great tribulation (often spoken about with symbolic numbers in Revelation), and also harks back to Israel being nourished in the wilderness years by manna.
Perhaps this is a little different to her representing the church- but in any case she represents believers.
I think the title 'Queen of heaven' for Mary is unsubstantiated by Scripture, because even if Revelation 12 does depict Mary, it would be the only place where she is mentioned outside the gospel narratives. Surely if Mary really was exalted by God as the queen of heaven, she would have been given more attention by the apostles in their letters and sermons? And she would be exalted separately from the church as the bride of Christ in Revelation?
Mary is a fantastic example of a true believer for us to follow, like many others in the Bible (see Hebrews 11 for an OT 'hall of fame), but if we make her more than an ordinary young girl then we risk lessening the impact of the incarnation of God. Part of the wonder of it is just that: that He became a tiny baby in the womb of a young girl just like any other baby (see Philippians 2:6-7). Mary certainly didn't seek to draw attention to herself- and we hear nothing of her in Acts, though presumably she was part of the early church as it grew and developed. I wonder if she would feel comfortable with some of the hymns of devotion written to her? For example:
'O gentle, chaste, and spotless Maid,
We sinners make our prayers through thee;
Remind thy Son that He has paid
The price of our iniquity.'
Reading Hebrews, it is made quite clear that we need no other mediator other than Christ and His eternal priesthood 'in the order of Melchizedek' and that He 'offered for all time a single sacrifice for sins' then 'sat down at the right hand of God' (10:12). He 'always lives to make intercession' (7:25) for His people. There is no need for Mary or anyone else to remind Jesus that He has made perfect atonement for us!
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