Revelations about The Revelation

The epistle reading for this week according to the Revised Common Lectionary is Revelation 5:11-14.  It reads:

 Then I looked, and I heard the voice of many angels surrounding the throne and the living creatures and the elders; they numbered myriads of myriads and thousands of thousands, singing with full voice,

‘Worthy is the Lamb that was slaughtered

to receive power and wealth and wisdom and might and honour and glory and blessing!’

Then I heard every creature in heaven and on earth and under the earth and in the sea, and all that is in them, singing,

‘To the one seated on the throne and to the Lamb be blessing and honour and glory and might for ever and ever!’

And the four living creatures said, ‘Amen!’ And the elders fell down and worshipped.

Angels, living creatures, elders, Lamb – there are a lot of strange images here.  I don’t tend to preach from The Revelation of Jesus Christ to St. John for a number of reasons.  Imagery such as this is just the tip of the iceberg.  The historical context, the place of the church – and churches – in this historical moment, the numerology, the representations and other puzzles are all too much to unpack in a single sermon.  And, since the preacher can never count on addressing the exact same group two Sundays in a row, a pastor can either go back over previously-plowed ground, or just leave this week’s newcomers behind in a morass of confused jargon.  I have said throughout all my ministry that “there are 66 books in holy scripture, and I will be glad to lead a study of any of the first 65.”

The other element is that, in order to be able to interpret The Revelation responsibly, a person (teacher/preacher or congregant/student) needs to be Old Testament-literate.  There are over 500 Old Testament allusions in The Revelation.  If we don’t get that, we can never make since of the 66^th book.

There is some kind of infatuation with The Revelation in part, I think because so many people (especially non-prime time TV preachers) represent the book as being some kind of code regarding the end of time, and that if one could just uncover the key, vast knowledge would come to the reader.

No serious scholar takes this position.  No genuine student does, either.  The casual reader recognizes references to 666 or the seven-headed beast, but pursuit of the key to the end of the world is energy mis-spent.

And yet, that perception persists.  It is a hill I choose not to die upon.  There are too many aspects of the faith that are so much more vital than what some late-night, spooky doom-sayer says while trying to sell a set of DVDs.

Is it Scripture? Sure.  Is it inspired of God?  Without a doubt.  Is it the most important thing we will ever read in the Bible?

Not so much.