[In this new series, Making Contact, I present a series of short (almost) daily considerations of Biblical texts that I hope you'll find helpful. The idea behind the name is that in the Bible, we make contact with the God Who has revealed Himself to humanity to millions of people over thousands and thousands of years. God can make contact with us today. The texts are based on the daily lectionary found in the Lutheran Book of Worship.]
Making Contact: Revelation 22:14-21
14Blessed are those who wash their robes, so that they will have the right to the tree of life and may enter the city by the gates. 15Outside are the dogs and sorcerers and fornicators and murderers and idolaters, and everyone who loves and practices falsehood. 16“It is I, Jesus, who sent my angel to you with this testimony for the churches. I am the root and the descendant of David, the bright morning star.” 17The Spirit and the bride say, “Come.” And let everyone who hears say, “Come.” And let everyone who is thirsty come. Let anyone who wishes take the water of life as a gift. 18I warn everyone who hears the words of the prophecy of this book: if anyone adds to them, God will add to that person the plagues described in this book; 19if anyone takes away from the words of the book of this prophecy, God will take away that person’s share in the tree of life and in the holy city, which are described in this book.
20The one who testifies to these things says, “Surely I am coming soon.” Amen. Come, Lord Jesus! 21The grace of the Lord Jesus be with all the saints. Amen.
A Few Thoughts:
1. These are the last eight verses of the last book of the New Testament. Revelation is, in many ways, a weird book, its imagery often stretched and misconstrued by religious sensationalists, some of whose motives are questionable at best.
2. The traditional English title of the book, more fully The Revelation of John, is a literal translation of its name in Greek: Apocalypsis Joannou means Revelation of John.
3. The book claims to contain statements made to the apostle John, by then an elderly man, by the risen and ascended Jesus. Here, Jesus reveals things to seven churches, each in various states of spiritual health, as they face persecution by the Roman Empire. Like Daniel, the apocalptic book found in the Old Testament, Revelation deals most clearly with the historical situation that existed at the time it was written. Claims that it deals with current world circumstances are as dubious as those that once claimed it dealt with the now-dead Soviet Union.
4. This doesn't mean that the book is irrelevant to our circumstances. It is relevant. But it's a misreading of apocalyptic literature to treat it like tea leaves, assigning rigid meanings to various images and symbols. Its application to understanding the human condition and our need of Jesus Christ as Savior is more universal than that and less self-aggrandizing than many tea-leaf-style interpreters usually are.
5. Speaking of the imagery and symbolism of the book, it's consistent with what's found in the Gospel of John and the three New Testament letters attributed to the disciple traditionally thought to be "the beloved disciple." If you ground yourself well in those four books, Revelation will become a bit more accessible.
More specifically:
Adam and Eve, after their fall into sin, were banished from the Garden of Eden to keep them away from the tree of life. This was an act of compassion toward the human race on God's part. Had our two ancestors gotten access to eternal life while still in their sin, the whole human race would have been lost to God forever.
But because His death and resurrection have made it possible for all with faith in Christ to have new lives, we will once again eat the fruit of this tree, living forever with God. (C.S. Lewis plays wonderfully with this image in The Magician's Nephew, one of the seven volumes in The Chronicles of Narnia series.)
Believers in Jesus (saints) have been washed clean of their sins in the waters of Baptism, through which we become heirs of Christ's self-sacrifice. Revelation also says that we are washed clean in the blood of the Lamb of God, Jesus.
The bride here and at other points in the so-called Johannine literature in the New Testament is the Church, with Christ as our Husband. This conveys the intimate relationship Christ has with His people.
To more fully understand the phrase, "And let everyone who is thirsty come. Let anyone who wishes take the water of life as a gift," check out John 4:1-15. The Baptismal allusion is clear.
Jesus could return at any time. While the world still exists and while I still exist, I pray that He will help me to remain faithful in following Him. Amen, come Lord Jesus!
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