Issue link: http://denverseminary.uberflip.com/i/1181004
"CHRIST HAS DIED, CHRIST IS RISEN, CHRIST WILL COME AGAIN." THE CHURCH HAS ALWAYS CONFESSED THAT JESUS CHRIST IS COMING AGAIN TO BRING HISTORY TO ITS INTENDED GOAL, TO FULFILL GOD'S PROMISES OF FINAL SALVATION AND JUDGMENT, AND TO RIGHT ALL THAT IS WRONG IN THIS WORLD. NO OTHER BOOK IN THE BIBLE EXPRESSES THE HOPE OF THE RETURN OF CHRIST MORE THAN THE BOOK OF REVELATION. YET THE LAST BOOK OF THE BIBLE HAS EVOKED A VARIETY OF RESPONSES BY GOD'S PEOPLE THROUGHOUT CHURCH HISTORY. Many shy away from the book, with its perplexing visions and fantastic imagery. For them, the book is better left to the experts, and they retreat to the "safer ground" of the Gospels or Paul's letters. Others throughout church history have become obsessed with Revelation (sometimes with drastic consequences), certain that John's visions are being fulfilled in their own day. Many attempt to match up the most recent political, scientific, or technological developments with Revelation's visions, and conclude that John must have been predicting our own time and we must be living on the brink of the end. However, both approaches are unsatisfying and do an injustice to Revelation. The last book of the Bible claims to be the word of God to His people and promises a blessing to the one who hears and obeys it (1:3). If Revelation is the Word of God that must be obeyed, then we can hardly afford to ignore it any more than any other part of Scripture. Furthermore, the fact that it is to be obeyed shows that it is not meant to provide information to satisfy our curiosity and fuel speculation and date setting. Revelation was addressed to seven historical churches in first-century Asia Minor. John expected them to understand and obey the entire book. John was not predicting the twenty-first century, but was helping the first-century church make sense of their situation while living in the shadow of the pagan, idolatrous Roman Empire. If we cannot afford to neglect the book of Revelation and its teaching on the coming of Christ, and if we should not use it to speculate on how close we are to the end, what do we do with Revelation? What does the book of Revelation and its teaching on the coming of Christ say to the church today? An Inspiration for Hope. The book of Revelation should inspire hope in the people of God. The final chapters (21:1-22:5) of Revelation offer a stirring vision of a just world, stripped of all the effects of sin and evil, with God dwelling in the midst of His people. Revelation reminds us that at the second coming of Christ in the future, God will one day fix all that is wrong with this world. We live in a world full of evil, injustice, pain, shootings, and cancer. The last book of the Bible ends with God's people not in heaven, but on earth — a redeemed, renewed world. All evil and injustice have been removed (Chs. 17-20) in order to make way for a new creation (21:1). The second coming of Christ does not mean an escape from this world; it means the renewal and redemption of this present creation where God's peace, love, and justice reign supreme. Revelation inspires hope by promising, to borrow N. T. Wright's words, "life after life after death." If we cannot afford to neglect the book of Revelation and its teaching on the coming of Christ, and if we should not use it to speculate on how close we are to the end, what do we do with Revelation? A Call to Obedience. Far from a means of speculating about how Revelation's visions will one day be fulfilled, the last book of the Bible is a call for God's people to follow God and the Lamb in unqualified obedience. The second coming of Christ should motivate God's people in the present to follow Jesus in discipleship, no matter what consequences it brings. The book begins with a blessing to those who keep (i.e., obey) the words of the book (1:3). The people of God follow the Lamb wherever He goes (14:4). In the midst of a hostile world they keep the commandments of God (12:17). ENGAGE 13 Giang Nguyen/iStock ipopba/iStock