For a summary of what I’m hoping to accomplish in this blog series (the first week of every month of 2018), I recommend reviewing my explanation here.
This month in the Top 12 Blog Posts at Covered in His Dust, we’ll look at the third-most-viewed post. And again, like last month, there is a little bit of a disclaimer. If I would have been true to the “twelve most-viewed posts” on my blog, then nine out of those twelve posts would have been posts on the book of Revelation. Instead of making this series a review of my thoughts on Revelation, I chose to pick the most viewed of my Revelation posts, which happens to be my introductory thoughts and a great place to have a conversation. You can read the original post here.
In this series, as we look at each post, I want to ask three questions: why, what, and what else? Why do I think these posts got so many views; why were others drawn to them? What do I hope people found when they got here; what do I hope they heard? Finally, what else have I learned about this; what else would I say about these ideas?
WHY THIS POST?
I don’t think there is any reason to doubt or wonder why this post (and apparently eight others) made the list. We have an infatuation with the book of Revelation. I mean, just let the idea sink in. One of the most recently written sections of my blog is on the book of Revelation. The series has only been up for just under two years, yet the posts on Revelation overwhelmingly dominate the most-viewed list.
I’m not sure there has ever been a book of the Bible so ripe for sensational reading (and mis-reading), more misunderstood, bringing more anxiety, and usurping the rest of the teaching of Scripture like that of Revelation. As I allude to in the original post, it would seem that there are two dominant groups in terms of studying this book. Either you feel like the book is so crazy and confusing that you refuse to engage it — or you are obsessed with the future forecasting, absolutely certain that you are reading it correctly, and you are so committed to your interpretation that you will undoubtedly break fellowship with other believers over its content.
It’s ridiculous. And both extremes seem unbelievably foolish and destructive to me.
WHAT DO I HOPE THEY FOUND?
I hope the reader found an objective and respectable hermeneutic grounded in critical thinking, legitimate history, and backed by biblical scholarship. If the reader was a member of the “I Don’t Read Revelation” camp, then I hope they were given some tools and a little hope that, in fact, this book is worth giving a second chance.
If the reader was a member of the “Revelation or Bust [Someone’s Face]” camp, then I hope they realized their position was more asinine than they’ve realized and were able to be honest about the unbelievable complexity of the book and the problems we have to face when we interpret it. All in all, no matter the reader, I hope we always approach the Bible with a sense of reverence and humility, while still being unintimidated by the task.
WHAT ELSE WOULD I SAY?
If I were to say something in addition to what I’ve already written it would be an encouragement to truly examine the way we approach and interpret the scriptures. Brothers and sisters, it matters. And I’m not saying it matters because of some childish commitment to orthodoxy. I’m saying it matters because of the implications.
Around the same time I wrote this series, our church was preaching through a series on the book of Revelation. It was insane. While I enjoyed the series immensely, my comrade Aaron Couch swears he will never preach through the book again. I saw things in people that concerned me deeply.
First, I saw people absolutely gripped with fear. If we know anything about the other 65 books of the Bible, we know this is not the posture that the gospel, the Church, or God is supposed to invoke in others. However, we’ve cloaked the discussion of the “End Times” in so much doomsday, apocalyptic, fire-breathing, demonic nonsense that people can’t even think straight when they start thinking about the return of Jesus and “the end of the world.” How did we get here?
And second, I have never seen so much rage come out of people that I have had fellowship with for years. All of a sudden our relationships were in jeopardy, our friendships rendered meaningless, and many found other churches. The only thing that even begins to rival the work of this book is the topic of politics (an issue I won’t even begin to touch here). We have some serious idolatry issues in these areas. Its horribly out of whack. We can talk about racism, loving our enemies, the glory of the empty tomb… and we get nothing. Nobody is sweating or has spit in their beard. Nobody is leaving the church and writing emails laced with profanity. But you mention some other idea about Revelation…
We are followers of Jesus. We should have a Christocentric theology (meaning that our theology should center around Jesus). Nothing should be more important than the teachings of Jesus. Not politics. Not eschatology. Not philosophy. Not Torah. Not Paul’s letters. And not Revelation. Not crazy YouTube videos about how some unaccountable Messianic Rabbi is convinced he broke the “Bible Code” and figured out the date the world comes to an end. Not some slick presentation on Blood Moons and the ancient Jewish calendar. Not the current events and how they line up with misinterpreted prophecy.
Nothing before Jesus. Jesus came so we would be one (John 17) and that through this oneness the world would know who He is. Jesus came to teach us how to chase down prodigal sons and welcome the sinner. Jesus came to tell us how to appropriately read everything else — including Torah and the book of Revelation. Jesus came to teach us how to forgive and live at peace. Jesus spoke very little about how the world would end.
I think that was on purpose.
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