Reading the Book of Revelation as Hope and Warning
Revelation 21:10, 22-22:5
Let’s be honest: the book of Revelation is one of the strangest books in the Biblical canon. Its inclusion was debated, and it’s not hard to see why. The book uses a lot of strange imagery from multi-headed figures to vivid depictions of violence and slaughter. And of course, the book of Revelation has been used by some Christians as some sort of road map for the future, where Jesus will come back down to earth and essentially destroy everyone who is not a Christian. Not to mention that this book has unintentionally led to the Left Behind Series, and I am sure if those deciding the canon had known that the inclusion of Revelation would lead to the creation of that book and movie series, they would have immediately tossed the book of Revelation away. In fact, if the author of Revelation had known how his words would be twisted and abused, I am sure he would be horrified.
To understand the book of Revelation you need to understand it’s historical context. Many Christians throughout the centuries have done the book a disservice by simply reading it without understanding the author’s historical context. Doing so not only leads to extremely strange conspiracy theories about the future, the UN, and whichever country some Christians consider to be the most evil, but ironically, ignoring the context makes it even more difficult to articulate how and why Revelation matters for our present reality.
For those who want to learn more in-depth about the historical and socio-political context of the book of Revelation, I recommend: What Does Revelation Reveal: Unlocking the Mystery by Warren Carter and Resisting Empire: The Book of Revelation by C. Wess Daniels. But for our purposes, the important thing to note is that the book of Revelation was written during a time of empire. The author isn’t providing a blueprint for a far-off future but is instead describing events that were current to them and also calling for the end of the Roman Empire.
The author also isn’t bashing Christians for being too close to “the world” in terms of the the music we listen to, the movies we watch, or because of queerness (why do some Christians love to blame everything on queer people), but instead is arguing that some Christians have become to close to the empire. That seems to be the common dilemma for many of the writings in the New Testament: how should Christians navigate their relationship with empire? And it should not be surprising that the authors, editors, and compilers of the New Testament didn’t necessarily agree with one another.
Thousands of years later and Christians are still grappling with our relationship to empire and power, only this time, Christianity as an institution is often the one in power. And we can see throughout history how having Christianity in power has been horrific for Christians and for non-Christians alike.
The book of Revelation should serve as a warning, but not in the way that the authors and readers of the Left Behind series think. Revelation isn’t some sort of puzzle that we need to decipher in order to unlock the future. But it is a warning of what happens to empires: eventually they all fall. And in a nation that wants to create a Christian empire, that warning should be heeded. Since Christianity became, first, a tolerated religion and then the religion of the Roman Empire, too many Christians have fallen in love with power.
Even if I had the space or time, I could not write all the harm caused by empires and kingdoms that claimed the cross in one hand and a sword in the other. Many Christians, especially those in power, view themselves as the oppressed and martyred, when in reality, they should see themselves as the empire. In that lens, Revelation is a warning to the Christians who have become the face of violence and oppression. God sees what they are doing and judgment is coming.
I know in many Progressive Christian circles, the idea of judgment is anathema. Understandable since we (humans in general, including the author of Revelation) often conceptualize judgment as punishment and retributive. But the answer isn’t to avoid judgment but to reinterpret judgment in ways that are redemptive. I don’t blame the author of Revelation for using violent imagery when discussing the destruction of empire. First, empires vary rarely fall without violence, even when it falls from within. Crumbling economic and political systems lead to instability and violence. Secondly, judgment probably had a particular understanding in their context. So perhaps judgment was understood to be tied to violence. Third, the violent imagery need not be understood literally, since the whole book is symbolic.
Revelation should encourage Christians, particularly those on the more progressive end, not to shy away from the language of judgment and warning but to reimagine it based on our current understandings of redemption, theology, and violence vs nonviolence. Additionally, the book of Revelation should serve as a wake-up call for Christians in positions of power to examine whether they are truly on God’s side. Hint: if you are attacking the marginalized in society, destroying what little safety net we have left, demonizing immigrants, and essentially condemning the poor to a life of destitution, you aren’t on God’s side.
The book of Revelation is not all violent imagery and doom and gloom, however, but it is also a message of hope for those on the receiving end of imperial violence. To be sure, many Christians are on the side of the empire, but then as now, there are also many Christians resisting the lure of power and domination. And to them, the book of Revelation offers hope. The hope of God’s presence and the promise that empire will eventually fall. To be sure, we can have a discussion about the use of violent imagery to categorize the fall of empire and what that looks like, but the heart of the message is that the empire will not have the last word. And empires do eventually fall. Their own greed, violence, and oppression often plant the seed of their own destruction.
Revelation is a strange book, with imagery and symbolism that don’t always translate to the 21st century. But reading it in its historical context can point to the ways in which the book can and does speak to us today. Not as some sort of crystal ball whose prophecies we need to decipher, but rather as a clear warning about the dangers of aligning oneself with empire.
image: photo of the first page of the book of Revelation. Text: The book of Revelation is weird...why read it?