GOD'S NEW WORLD, DAY 8 (Eastertide trauma II)

“Do not be afraid; I am the first and the last, and the living one. I was dead, and see, I am alive forever and ever; and I have the keys of Death and of Hades. Now write what you have seen, what is, and what is to take place after this.” (Rev. 1.17-19)

     A new world.  As we have said, Easter was the launch of God’s new creation.  On the cross, Jesus defeated sin and death and as he vacated the tomb, Jesus walked into a new world – one in which the power of death had been broken.  And yet, as those Christians thrown to the lions might have wondered, “The power of tyrants to kill at will seems to be unaffected by Jesus’ having established the kingdom of God “on earth as in heaven” (cf. Mt. 6.9-10), thus ushering in God’s new world…”  How to reconcile this apparent paradox?  If we are the followers of the living One who reigns over the world from “the right hand of God” (cf. Ac. 2.33; 5.31; 7.55; Rom. 8.34), then how is it that we are being butchered by the same pagan empire that crucified our Lord?

    Martyr’s manifesto.  Perhaps more intentionally than any other New Testament document, the book of Revelation was addressed to Christians facing the threat of death because of their “witness” to Christ (though the first letter of Peter is not far behind).  Revelation is indeed a manifesto for the church “militant” (i.e., the church struggling on earth as opposed to the church “triumphant” in heaven, of which many glimpses are afforded us in Revelation).  The author of Revelation deploys several strategies to encourage and strengthen the faith of his auditors:

     Promises of paradoxical victory.  Revelation is replete with promises of victory, of “overcoming”, “conquering”.  While the audience of Revelation may well have felt that they were being defeated and crushed by the relentless violence of the Roman empire, they are assured time and again that they will overcome, just as Jesus – himself a victim of the same pagan regime – overcame (Rev. 3.21).  As with Jesus, the “victory” of these Christians will be paradoxical – they will overcome at the cost of their lives (Rev. 12.10-11; 6.9-11; 7.9-17).  As was the case with Jesus, the “defeat” of these Christians by the empire will actually be a triumph.  Indeed, Paul describes Jesus’ death on the cross using the terminology of a Roman general’s “triumph”, a parade through the streets of Rome following a military victory (Col. 2.14-15).  As Jesus demonstrated, evil cannot be defeated by evil (though evil is often self-defeating); acts of violence will never put an end to violence, but rather perpetuate the seemingly endless cycle of retribution.  On the cross, Jesus was victorious by remaining true to the will of his Father, by obeying God in spite of the extreme circumstances he was experiencing.  In light of Jesus’ resurrection – and ours! – evil is powerless against those of us who follow Christ.  The most the powers of evil can do is kill.  The Creator, however, is ever the God of life…

     Prophecy fulfilled.  Revelation assures its readers/hearers that they are indeed experiencing the fulfillment of the plan of God as unfolded in the Scriptures of Israel (i.e., the “Old Testament”).  This is why Revelation is chock-full of biblical allusions.  Hardly is there a verse that does not contain some echo or reference to “the Law, the Prophets and the Psalms” (the threefold division of “the Tanakh”, i.e., the Hebrew Bible).  Indeed, Revelation is written “from a God’s-eye view”.  “John”, the author, is transported to heaven “in the spirit” (Rev. 4.1-2) and is shown the events transpiring on earth as he looks through a divine “tower viewer”.  This is a typical “apocalyptic” literary device (compare sections of the books of Isaiah, Ezekiel, Daniel and Zechariah, to name a few OT examples of this literary genre).  The authors of apocalyptic literature are indeed referring to people/things that their readers were familiar with albeit using highly evocative, symbolic and “coded” language to invest historical events with their full significance.  Hence all the language about the basic structures of the cosmos being destroyed – the sun, moon and stars being darkened or falling from the sky (cf. Rev. 8.12) or the earth, the sea and the rivers being poisoned/emptied of life (cf. Rev. 8.7-10).  The events that these texts are describing were indeed “earth-shattering”!  (but we shouldn’t read them literally, and we should not follow the example of Chicken Little…).  So, to be clear, Revelation doesn’t have anything to say about a literal “end of the world” (actually, the book ends with a vision of a new world…).

     Kingdom & creation.  In the final chapters of Revelation, the “throne” of God descends from heaven to earth, and thus the reign of God (i.e., his kingdom) is fully implemented in the midst of a “new creation”, all “earthly” kingdoms having been displaced, all evil eradicated and Satan himself, along with Death and Hades, having been condemned to the “lake of fire” (Rev. 21.1-5; 11.15; 20.7-15).  Indeed, a “new Jerusalem”, decked out as a bride on her wedding day (21.2, 9-14), descends to earth and this union of heaven and earth (the two parts of the biblical cosmos: Gn. 1.1) is described in terms of a cosmic marriage.  Resurrection-life is promised to the martyrs (Rev. 20.4-6) and they will rule with Christ in God’s new world.  This is Revelation’s antidote to despair – persevere, remain faithful until death (Rev. 2.10), and you will receive the reward of God’s new world.  Though, in the present world, you are being treated as the scum of the earth, you are destined to rule over creation as God had always intended his human creatures to do (cf. Gn. 1.26-31).  Jesus’ death and resurrection are ever the template for authentic Christian experience – the cross comes before the crown.  But how marvelous that crown will be…