Acts 9:36-43, Revelation 7:9-17, and John 10:22-30

Every three years during the Easter season, we have readings from the Book of Revelation for six Sundays. I always preach about Revelation on one of the Sundays, because it is such a puzzling and neglected book--among us. In the last week I have been reminded that there are many Christians who give the Book of Revelation a primary place, and do not find it puzzling. My first reminder was in an article in The Christian Century about the Left Behind novels, and the theology they are based upon. ₁ The second reminder was in a New York Times editorial by Nicholas Kristof, who accused mainline Protestants of being more willing to learn about Islam, than to learn why evangelical Christians believe in the Rapture. ₂ So I decided to take up this challenge, learn about these ideas, and share them with you.

After I went to the library to check out one of the Left Behind novels, and had started to read it, I heard a portion of the "Frontline" news program (which aired on 4-29), in which a journalist said that President Bush is an evangelical, but does not believe in the Rapture. Then I received a news release from a Christian conference which rejected this theology as heresy. ₃ The topic is large: so today, I will only be able to give you an outline of what this theology says, and where it comes from, what issues are at stake, and why Episcopalians tend to interpret Revelation differently.

The theology comes originally from a disaffected former Anglican priest, John Nelson Darby, in the middle of the 19th century. He believes that a correct reading of the Hebrew prophets and the New Testament, gave him God’s schedule for history, and especially for the end of history. He argued that there are seven dispensations or eras of history, and that we are now in the sixth of the seven. At the beginning of the final dispensation, Jesus will suddenly and secretly remove all true believers to heaven: that is the event called the Rapture. It is based on a few verses in I Thessalonians 4: "For the Lord himself with a cry of command, with the archangel’s call and with the sound of God’s trumpet, will descend from heaven, and the dead in Christ will rise first. Then we who are alive, who are left, will be caught up in the clouds together with them to meet the Lord in the air, and so we will be with the Lord forever."

Once this event occurs, there will be seven years of tribulation (in the NRSV translation, "great ordeal"), during which a world government will be established by the Anti-Christ. Then comes the battle of Armageddon, where the forces of evil will be defeated, and Christ will reign for 1000 years from Israel, which will be inhabited by converted Jews. This theology clearly has political implications, as many theologies do. One such implication is that conservation of natural resources doesn’t matter, since God is about to destroy the earth. Those who accept this theology are called "pre-millenial dispensationalists". Others believe the Rapture and the tribulation will take place after the 1000 year reign of Christ: they are "“post-millenial dispensationalists".

The Left Behind novels are set in the time just after the Rapture has occurred, and hundreds of thousands of people have instantaneously disappeared. The four main characters experience a belated conversion, and join together to oppose the forces of evil. The 12th and final novel in the series has been published recently, and millions of copies have been sold.

The first issue for us to notice, has to do with the writing of fiction which makes use of scripture. Certainly The DaVinci Code by Dan Brown falls into that category, as does Walter Murphy’s novel about St. Peter Upon This Rock, and Walter Wangerin’s novel about St. Paul, called Paul. Insofar as they bring to iife the biblical story, they have a certain place; but inevitably they include many elements that are invented by the author, and it is hard for the reader to distinguish fact from fiction.

The second issue to notice is the interpretation of scripture. Before the invention of the printing press, and before the translation of the Bible into vernacular languages, people had to accept the interpretation provided by the church, and by their local clergy. Since the mid-16th century, increasing numbers of people have been able to read the Bible in their own language, and make their own interpretations, which is a good thing. Scholars continued to work on the historical documents, and in the second half of the 19th century, began to teach and write about the evidence they found for different sources and authors for the books of Moses, and other Biblical books. This was the beginning of the higher criticism--the academic use of textual analysis, literary evidence, historical and linguistic analysis, reaction criticism, and so on. Many conservative Christians were scandalized by this approach, and were led to focus more and more on the literal meaning as the only or exclusive meaning. Jesus himself interpreted scripture in several different ways, and it was St. Paul who introduced the allegorical method of interpretation in Galatians 4.

A third issue is the interpretation of prophecy. The desire to understand the future, and to read the signs of coming events, is a widespread human phenomenon. For example, many Jews interpreted the death of Herod the Great in 4 BC as the beginning of the end-times. The Essenes retreated to their closed community beside the Dead Sea, in order to prepare for the end-times. The excitement stirred up by John the Baptist surrounded the fulfillment of prophecy which he announced. And the Zealots who were a kind of guerilla group in the first century, were operating on the presumption that the heavenly host were about to intervene and annihilate the Roman army. Behind this desire of both Jews and Christians to read the signs and inerpret the prophecies, is a deep seated longing to be on God’s side, and to work for God’s triumph in the world. Where this longing goes astray, in my opinion, is in the cosmic dualism of the good guys versus the bad guys. The operating assumption of the Essenes, the Zealots, and some evangelicals today, is that many people are on the side of Satan and are going to hell, but they are on God’s side in the battle.

The Book of Revelation was written at the end of the first century AD, in a time of Roman persecution of Christians, and for this reason, its author worried about the faithfulness of Christians. It is a series of visions in 4 sets, and each set has 7 visions. There are seven letters to the churches, seven seals on a scroll, seven trumpets of warning, and seven bowls of wrath. In between these sets of visions, are other un-numbered visions which describe the cosmic war between the armies of Satan and the armies of God, and the worship of the lamb in heaven, which is today’s lesson. In the end, Satan is defeated, there is the 1000 year reign of Christ, followed by Judgment Day. After that, God creates a new heavens and a new earth, which we will hear about on the 6th and 7th Sundays of Easter. The point of the book is clearly reassurance: the readers are encouraged to persevere, to stand fast in their faith, because God will triumph in the end. Nevertheless, the Book of Revelation was not well received in the early church, and was almost rejected as part of the New Testament. Of the 208 ancient manuscripts of the New Testament in existence, 149 of them do NOT contain the Book of Revelation.

There are several reasons why Episcopalians do not accept dispensationalism. The first is that we are accustomed to using many different methods of interpretation of the Bible: the higher criticism, sociological analysis, historical and archaeological evidence, metaphor, allegory, and comparative religions. The second reason is, that Jesus said quite explicitly that one one knows the day or the hour of the end-times (Mark 13:32). The third reason has to do with the presence of evil in the world. Jesus said, according to the Gospel of Luke, that he saw Satan fall from heaven (10:18), which means that the defeat of Satan has already happened. Supernatural evil no longer exists; therefore Jesus proclaimed the nearness of the Kingdom of God. What does continue to exist, is the evil done by human beings who make selfish choices as they seek power, wealth and fame. I believe we are all the good guys, who have all made evil choices from time to time, some more than others. The message of Jesus is the opposite of the cosmic dualism of good vs bad--the message of Jesus is reconciliation for all who have ears to hear, and the ministry of reconciliation for us to take, as forgiven sinners (not as good guys), to those who have not yet heard.

The fourth reason we do not accept this theology, is that Jesus did not teach us to seek victory over enemies. He taught, and lived, a way of service, of non-resistance and non-violence, a way of sacrifice. The conference in Jerusalem I mentioned at the beginning, was attended by 600 theologians, clergy, and peace activists from 32 countries. The title of the conference was "Challenging Christian Zionism", and what they rejected as heresy was precisely the emphasis on apocalyptic events leading to the end of history, and what they endorsed was the biblical message of love, mercy and justice.

In our reading from Revelation, martyrs from every tribe and nation are standing around the throne in heaven, robed in white, waving palm branches. It is the throne of God, surrounded also by angels, and at it’s center stand the Lamb. This lamb is a symbol for Christ, which has the specific meaning of His sacrificial self-offering. Christ, the Lamb of God, who gave himself for the sins of the world, is also the Shepherd of God, feeding and comforting all who have been wounded in this life. The ultimate message of the Book of Revelation is the healing of peoples and nations, for the river of the water of life flows from the throne, and beside the river are the trees of ife, whose leaves are for the healing of the nations.

1. "En-raptured: What’s Behind Left Behind?" by Jason Byassee in The Christian Century, 4-20-04, pages 18-20.
2. "Hug an Evangelical" by Nicholas Kristof, The New York Times, 4-24-04, page A25.
3. "Jerusalem Conference calls Christian Zionism a heresy" by James Solheim, Episcopal News Service, 4-28-04