Pentecost 8
27 July 2025
Vineville Baptist Church
Macon, Georgia
W. Gregory Pope
CONSUMMATION: A NEW CREATION
From Creation to New Creation: The Biblical Story #11
The Book of Revelation
Three months ago we began the biblical story in the Garden of Eden with the creation of the world. Today we arrive at the end of the biblical story in a Garden of the New Creation. Next week, we will consider how the biblical story continues to live through our lives.
As we come to the end of the written story, it is important to realize that when the Bible talks about the end of time and the return of Christ it does so in a style of writing called apocalyptic literature. We find this kind of literature in the book of Revelation and in the latter part of Daniel, as well as in the words of Jesus toward the end of Matthew, Mark, and Luke.
It is important to understand the nature of apocalyptic writing. If we don’t, then books like Revelation are – in my estimation – misused as predictors of future historical events leading to a doomsday destruction of earth. This mode of interpretation, though perhaps the most popular today among evangelical Christians, is fairly recent in the history of the church. It was for the most part constructed and made popular following the lead of John Nelson Darby, a Plymouth Brethren pastor in the1830’s.
This way of interpreting the end-times is known as “historical premillenial dispensationalism” – a phrase we all use daily in ordinary conversation! It spread to millions through Scofield’s edition of the King James Bible and its footnotes. Millions more were led down this road of interpretation in the 1970s with Hal Lindsay’s best-selling book The Late Great Planet Earth – 28 million copies sold. Lindsay said the world would end in the 1980’s. Since its original publication Lindsay has had to revise several times the dates he set for the end of the world as they passed. Lindsey passed away last year at the age of 95, forty years after he predicted the world would end. In the 1990’s the 17 best-selling fictional novels in the Left Behind series tried to tell us what the end would be like, following this literal mode of interpretation.
Over the past 200 years there has been a fascination with equating historical events with biblical prophecy. Elaborate charts have been set up to pinpoint when various parts of Revelation are being fulfilled, and dates are projected for when the End will come. And there are times I wish I could get into all of that and immerse myself in charts and predictions. While all that is exciting for readers and financially lucrative for modern-day authors and TV preachers, there are two primary reasons I do not read Revelation in that way.
First: It is not the nature of apocalyptic literature to predict specific historical events 2000 years into the future. It would be like reading poetry literally: it violates the purpose and nature of the genre. Apocalypticism is not a literal language, but a coded language full of symbols and images. Apocalyptic writing is not linear. Images are stacked upon each other, with the same message presented in multiple ways.
A second reason I do not give attention to charts and predictions has to do with the plain words of Jesus that warn against such calendarizing of the end times. He said: Of that day and hour no one knows, not even the angels, nor the Son (Jesus himself), only the Father in heaven knows. All the end-time predictions that abound today are enough to make Barbara Brown Taylor wonder if Jesus really said, “About that day and hour no one knows, neither the angels, nor the Son, only a few American pastors we’ve told.”
While I do not want to be disparaging of those good and faithful Christians who read Revelation as a predictor of 21st century historical events, I do respectfully disagree with that mode of interpretation. Of course, you are free to disagree with me. We are Baptists after all, honoring individual conscience and interpretation. And I can be wrong if I want to be!
However we read it, we do need to be careful. Interpretation does matter. We’re not just talking about differences of opinion. Some interpretations display an extremely unchristian habit of assigning absolute evil to one’s earthly enemies. The anti-Christ (which is not even mentioned in Revelation), along with figures of the Beast and the Dragon have been identified throughout history with specific people. This mode of interpretation also at times seems to take pleasure in the forthcoming death of one’s enemies, even rejoicing at the thought of a literal “Tribulation” period where unbelievers and the enemies of God will suffer while believers are whisked away in a “Rapture,” a word not even found in the Bible and an idea not as clearly described in scripture as we’ve been taught to think. All of which seems to me to be so far removed from the message of Jesus who told us our mission was to enter the world’s suffering, not escape from it. Many literal interpreters of Revelation have sadly had the ear of American presidents and have even discouraged peace in the Middle East, thinking it would delay the return of Christ.
And with the conviction that everything will be destroyed in the very near future, people have ignored the biblical imperative to take care of God’s creation.
Some of these interpretations have even turned pathological, leading to such tragedies as: The 1994 Waco inferno where David Koresh led his cult into a suicide mission designed to inaugurate a countdown to Armageddon. There was also the suicide mission of the Heaven’s Gate cult in the 1980’s led by Marshall Applewhite who grew up hearing his father preach apocalyptic doom from the Book of Revelation.
All of this should lead us to ask some important questions: Do we really think that a loving God’s great purpose in the world is to plan this violent doomsday and the ultimate destruction of the world God has made? Or is God’s great purpose more faithfully expressed in Paul’s writings who said the will of God is to rid the world of evil and unite all things in Christ, fashioning a new creation?
It might be helpful to realize that the word “apocalypse” does not mean “doom.” We’ve learned that idea from the Hollywood Bible. In the Hebrew and Christian Bible “apocalypse” means “unveiling” or “to disclose.” The English title of the last book of the Bible – “Revelation” is a translation of the Greek word “Apocalypse.” And the nature of biblical apocalyptic writings is not to predict history but to disclose the meaning of history with God’s ultimate victory over evil.
One biblical scholar describes Revelation as “a pastoral letter written to encourage first century Christians, not a puzzle to be solved by 21st century Christians.” It has been said of Revelation that no other book of the Bible has been used for the opposite purpose for which it was written. Revelation was meant to encourage first-century followers of Jesus, assuring them that the Roman Empire would not ultimately win. But rather than encourage people, Revelation has been used to scare people.
The Book of Revelation is not a Stephen King novel. Apocalyptic violence is not intended to be taken literally. Instead of reading Revelation as a literal blueprint of future historical doomsday events, I think we would do better to read Revelation as the majority of biblical scholars have done throughout the history of the church, and that is, as a pastoral letter of encouragement written more like a parable than a doomsday script. The Revelation is meant to be an inspiring and encouraging word of God to the people of God undergoing persecution.
The Book of Revelation itself comes in the form of a vision to a follower of Jesus named John, banished from his home in Ephesus and imprisoned on an island named Patmos. His brothers and sisters in Christ back home are in danger of persecution and death. Isolated in his exile, John is consumed with terrifying questions: Why are evil leaders like Caesar so powerful? Why does God allow the forces of evil to be so strong?
John receives a story in the form of visions, a secret message written in codes – codes that would have been familiar and understandable to John’s first Jewish readers, but codes that would purposefully appear as incomprehensible nonsense to their persecutors, in case the writing fell into their hands.
Following the first three chapters of the Book where we find a glorious vision of the Risen and Reigning Christ, along with letters to the seven churches in Asia Minor, John receives a vision that begins in heaven at God’s throne. Around the throne are 24 elders representing the 12 tribes of Israel and the 12 disciples of Jesus. They are singing songs of praise, joined in the chorus by creatures who are flying around the throne singing, “Holy, holy, holy.”
Then there appears a Lamb. He has suffered a mortal wound, and yet he’s alive. His name is Jesus Christ. And millions break forth into joyous song: Worthy is the Lamb who was slain to receive power and riches and wisdom and strength and honor and glory and blessing.
The Lamb approaches the throne and takes a scroll. On the scroll is written the pattern of history, not its prediction. The scroll is bound together by 7 seals, and the Lamb begins to break open the seals that hold the meaning and pattern of human history.
As the first seal is broken we see history happening before our eyes, history we know like the back of our hand, history riding on 4 horses: First, we see the white horse of conquering, ridden by a parade of conquerors. People like Alexander the Great, Julius Caesar, Napoleon, Hitler, and others as they ride through history. Then we see the red horse of war. Its rider has a sword covered with the blood of a thousand wars: Trojan Wars and Civil Wars, World Wars and Vietnam, Bosnia and El Salvador, Afghanistan and Ukraine. Then comes the black horse of famine, and we see the long cruel line of parched lips and bloated stomachs from Egypt to Central Africa to Bangladesh to the inner cities of America. Then finally comes the pale green horse of death: plagues and diseases, malaria and polio, cancer and COVID. Revelation does not predict these events, but simply reveals conquering, war, famine, and death as the sad way of human history in a broken creation.
Then as all of the seven seals are broken and the scroll is opened up, all of history is unveiled, and we see that it is full of even more calamity: persecutions and earthquakes, floods and volcanic eruptions, hurricanes and tsunamis. All of nature broken and abused.
We see that there’s been a revolt in heaven and a battle has been going on since the beginning of time between the forces of good and the forces of evil. The forces of heaven are led by a Holy Trinity: God the Creator, Jesus Christ God’s Son, and the Holy Spirit. The forces of darkness and evil are led by an Unholy Trinity, represented by a Dragon, a Beast, and a False Prophet.
The Dragon symbolizes Satan who leads the forces of evil. He gives to the Beast of his own authority and power. And all the world bows down and worships the Beast who becomes like a god! His number is 666. The Book of Revelation makes a number of allusions to first century Rome and Caesar as the embodiment of evil. In Revelation 17 we see a woman sitting on seven hills, an allusion to Rome’s seven hills. The coded language is meant to suggest Caesar. The Beast changes faces in every generation. It is meant to include others throughout history who presume to take God’s place and lead the church astray into a form of national worship.
The third member of the Unholy Trinity is a False Prophet who goes all over the world persuading people to bow down and worship the Beast – which is the Roman Empire of the first century and all the other nations throughout history who have demanded ultimate allegiance. If you give your allegiance to the Nation’s leader you will receive the mark of the Beast, and will be promised special power and success for your family and business. If you do not give your allegiance to the Nation’s leader you will persecuted – or worse.
This battle between good and evil is called Armageddon. Just like everything else in the Book of Revelation, Armageddon is a symbolic place where the final battle of good and evil is waged. This is not a literal war with military weapons but a spiritual one battling forces of evil. Christ leads the battle on the white horse of Resurrection. His name is Faithful and True. It is a battle he won in his death and resurrection. He defeats evil with the word of his mouth.
All empires, all nations, whose glory and wealth come through military force and economic oppression, who demand allegiance to the Empire-Nation rather than the kingdom of God will be defeated. The righteous power of God’s great love will conquer evil and empire and destroy it forever. The Unholy Trinity of evil power will be no more.
Then all those whose names are written in the Lamb’s Book of Life, those who have been faithful to God and God’s way, are gathered and given a white stone on which is written your own secret name. The white stone you have been given today is a reminder that God has fully claimed you as God’s own. So keep it to remember whose who you. On that Unclouded Day of the New Creation when we gather at the river God will say, “This stone is your entrance into my eternal kingdom. Come enjoy the Supper of the Lamb, the joyous feast of God’s people through all the ages, which I have prepared for you since the foundation of the world.”
You see, Revelation is not a story about the countdown to ultimate destruction led by the return of a violent warrior Christ who kills evil people. The Loving Christ of the first century is not coming back as an earthly, political, military Rambo or John Wick to wipe out all his enemies. The Bible tells us that “Jesus Christ is the same yesterday, today, and forever.” When he returns he will continue to embody the wide reach of God’s love and mercy for the world, a love so powerful it will destroy evil.
The Book of Revelation encourages us to live in the assurance that the forces of good will not be ultimately defeated. God is working in the world towards a final healing. The story of God and the story of the world consummate in a new heaven and a new earth. When the kingdom Jesus proclaimed comes in all its fullness, Paul says that all things will be united and reconciled in Christ – all things in heaven, on earth, and under the earth. What all that means exactly and how it will happen is beyond the limited scope of my small mind. But the Book of Revelation is the story of the movement of God in history toward the end of evil and the redemption of all things.
For so long many in the church have taught that this life is only preparation for escaping this world. But the entire movement of the Bible is of a God who wants to be here with us. According to the Book of Revelation, we are not escaping earth and going up to heaven. John says that heaven is coming down to earth – coming down like a New Jerusalem, adorned as a bride for her husband, a city too wonderful to describe in human words. The wicked are outside the city so as not to disrupt the peace of the New Jerusalem. But they are invited to repent and wash their robes and enter the city by the gates – gates, John says, that will never be shut.
It is a new heaven and a new earth where we will live together in peace. A home where we will dwell with God and God with us. God will come down and take up residence here on earth to live and walk among us in a new Eden, a City that has become a Garden where all can partake of the Tree of Life. The Garden lost in Genesis becomes the Garden regained in the New Creation. God’s world not DE-stroyed, but finally RE-stored to God’s original design. A New Creation where God will wipe every tear of sorrow from our eyes. No more war and conflict. No more oppression or slavery. No more border walls or refugee camps. No more sin and evil. Hospitals will be transformed into mansions and resort hotels because there will be no more disease or depression, no more cancer or COVID, no more accidents or ambulances. All the cemeteries will be empty for death will be no more.
In this new city: A river of life will flow through its center. Trees will line both sides of the river. Its limbs will bear fruit all year round and its leaves will be “for the healing of the nations.” A great multitude will gather from every tribe and nation, class and tongue, too numerous to count. We will be wearing clean white robes and singing praise to God and to the Lamb. All creation will be at peace.
And there the story concludes. John the storyteller now turns to you and me and says: “Do you believe the story? Do you believe it enough to stake your life on it?” In the final analysis this is the point of the book, of the entire biblical story. The crucial issue is not: “Do you understand it all?” or “Who is 666?” or “When is Christ coming?” or “When is the Rapture – before or after the Tribulation?”
All these questions adults debate because they are entertaining and they allow us to avoid the more important matters – like joining God in shaping the New Creation God desires even now, calling us to fill the world with beauty and truth and goodness.
We are not here preparing to escape doomsday. The biblical promise is this: God will win the final victory over evil. Regardless of how it appears, the final victory is assured. And we as God’s children will share the victory. The saving love of Christ will prevail and bring to completion the salvation of the world.
And when he comes, the kingdom of God – dreamed by the prophets, embodied in Jesus, even now here and there breaking into this world – the kingdom will come in all its fullness. The kingdoms of this world will become the kingdom of our Lord and of His Christ. And so we pray with John: Even so, Lord Jesus, come.