Soliloquy

In chapter 21 of the Apocalypse John sees the new heaven and the new earth, for the old has passed away. Along with this comes the new Jerusalem, the bride of Christ. John is presenting the heavenly city as the church, the redeemed community. He recalls the theme of the incarnation, that the divine now dwells with the human, that the time of suffering has passed, and that the divine will bring an end to tears, mourning, crying, pain and death, for all this has passed away with the victory of Christ against the empire and against the heretics within the church. Again, the divine voice sounds the former theme of Christ,”It is finished!” The liturgical drama is a recapitulation of the Passion of the Christ. The victory is a proclamation of a day of grace for believers, and judgment for sinners. The re-enactment is further enhanced by the second part of the vision, where the same angel who in 17:1 transported John to see the great harlot, now transports him to have a more comprehensive vision of the new city, the community of the redeemed. In 21:1 John presents one view of the new community. From verse 9 onwards he gives a different description, in which the city is radiant and beautiful, perfectly formed and orderly, with an architecture that is harmonious, a reminder of the creation in which the divine created a perfectly harmonious world. The community of the redeemed, the church, is the new creation, the new heaven and new earth, over which the divine itself reigns once more. The liturgical drama presents the scene of the redeemed community as one in which the Incarnation has become complete, there is no longer a temple, for the divine itself is the holy place, the holy city. The divine itself is the light of the redeemed community. This description goes on until 22:5. The conclusion of the vision presents Jesus again as the faithful witness whose word is true, 1:5. The rest of chapter 22 is an exhortation to the victorious church to continue its prophetic ministry in full faith that Jesus has returned, and will continue to return whenever faith is in peril, and the church is in danger. The book of Revelation re-tells the story of the Gospels, the birth of Christ, his life, death and resurrection, and his victory. (This is the end of my reflections on the Revelation of John. I hope you have enjoyed reading it as much as I have enjoyed writing it.)

The Apocalypse gives us a stunning vision in chapter 20 of the struggle in which the church was engaged. Already there is an indication at the end of chapter 19 of what is going on. As the liturgical action continues, the binding of Satan for 1,000 years is depicted as a clear victory of the orthodox believers. What John is communicating, using the counter-Christ as a cover story for the unorthodox group, is that for a very long period orthodoxy prevails, the unorthodox group has been cast into a pit, shut up and sealed away for a very long time. That after a while Satan must be loosed “for a little while,” may indicate after the unorthodox group much later tried once again to prevail, but lost again. John describes the liturgical action as a scene filled with “thrones,” persons who had the responsibility of judging those who held fast to faith in Jesus Christ, and as a result of their judgment, these souls were raised from the dead, to be priests of God and of Christ for the 1,000 year period. John is saying that those who had been imprisoned for their beliefs were now set free and again assumed leadership positions in the church in the period of the victory over the deceivers. However, the heretics once again arose and spread their heresy across the land, but they were again defeated. Verses 11-15 now present what appears to be a service of remembrance, as the liturgy continued. The dead are remembered, their names are read from the records, in the congregation. Those whose names were kept secret, hidden under “Death and Hades” were now honored publicly in the recitation of their names. The ones whose names were no longer in the book, i.e., those who were forced out of the church, were no longer recognized, their names were not read, they were gone forever. It is likely that these membership records were kept in a very secure place until the time was right, so that those whose names were there may be protected. The victory of Christ is complete, the heretics were cast out of the church, and the orthodox beliefs of the early Christian faith was assured.

In chapter 19 John presents the inauguration of the victory of Christ and gives an insight into the final judgment over the counter-Christ, and at the same time shows that the false prophet who incited the dissidents in the congregations was also delivered to the pit. John hears the heavenly choirs singing songs of salvation. The liturgical drama which is being acted out in the church shows a scene in which worship leaders, choirs and members of the church alternately exclaim songs of rejoicing for now the marriage feast of the Bride and the Lamb has been completed, i.e., Christ has triumphed, the Church of Christ has triumphed, and this is celebrated. “Blessed are those who are invited to the marriage supper of the Lamb.” The celebration of the Body and the Blood of the Lamb, the Church’s Eucharist, is contrasted with the feasting on dead flesh of mighty men and horses by the birds of prey, that is, by those who have preyed on the faithful. John is demonstrating that alongside the defeat of Rome there is also the defeat of those who challenged the orthodox faith of the church. They will follow the counter-Christ and his false prophet and the beast-dragon into the lake of fire. The counter-Christ and those with the mark of the beast could not triumph over Christ and those who bear his mark of baptism. Throughout this chapter John gives insights into the identity of the conquering Christ whose name is “The Word of God.” It is this word that issues forth from his mouth as a sharp sword that wins the battle. Christ and his cavalry have come against the dragon and his forces. The liturgical drama ends for the moment with the expulsion of the dissenters from the congregation.

Chapter 18 presents the ligurgical drama from the point of view of judgment over Babylon, Rome, the idolatrous woman. The drama begins with an angel who has authority to pronounce judgment, one whose splendor made the earth bright. It is likely that the angel here is an alternate identity of the exalted Christ, who has to power to judge. The judgment is that Babylon has fallen. This signified the defeat of idolatry and blasphemy, and the victory of Christ. Babylon has become the dwelling place of the demonic, the counter-heaven that is the home of idolatry. A second angel responds to the proclamation of judgment of the angel of splendor. This second angel has a speaking part that runs from verse 4 to 19. It begins with the invitation,”Come out of her, my people.” This may indicate that the divine itself is speaking here, for the same voice calls out in verse 20, “Rejoice!” This is a message addressed to “heaven, saints and apostles and prophets.” That is, the faithful. But before this rejoicing takes place, three groups of persons representing the world are allowed their own lament. The kings of the earth, the merchants and the sea traders are lamenting the loss of the past glories of Babylon. This may mean that earth and sea, all creation that took part in idolatry and blasphemy has been judged, except the faithful who are now rejoicing. Three times the phrase “in one hour” is repeated, signifying that the judgment is swift. In verse 21, a mighty angel casts a great millstone into the sea as a symbol of the casting down of Babylon. Idolatry shall be cast down, cast into the sea, into the place of chaos and destruction. The phrase “no more” is repeated six times, indicating the severity of scope of judgment, that the destruction is so complete that no more shall Babylon arise, i.e., no more shall idolatry and blasphemy be found in the church. This part of the liturgical drama is an acting out of the story of redemption.

In chapter 17 the liturgical drama continues with the identification of the other woman. John was carried away “in the Spirit,” to a wilderness. As the devil was revealed in the wilderness in the temptation of Christ, so the other woman is revealed in this wilderness. She is the great harlot, Rome, with whom the people had committed fornication, i.e., idolatry, going after another divinity, imitating the Romans and their emperor. She is dressed in brightly colored garments, in contrast to the woman clothed with the sun, and also in contrast with the simple white robes of th faithful. Rome, as the great city of 16:19, is divided. She has many rulers, with a variety of power and authority. She is accused of abominations and fornication, i.e., blasphemy and idolatry. Again there seems buried under the imagery the idea of a struggle between the faithful followers of Christ, and a dissident group that followed the practice of the Romans. The beast again imitates Christ, it is the counter-Christ, but it is not eternal. The beast will fight the Lamb, and will be conquered by the Lamb, the eternal one who rightly bears the name of King and Lord. John seems to indicate the history of rulers of the empire, and to show that Nero is the emperor at the time of writing. John is saying of the battle with the external world, i.e., Rome, that it will be destroyed by its own rulers. God has the power to make them destroy themselves. For that reason the churches are to endure, for they “are called, chosen and faithful.” Once more we get the impression that John is communicating on two different levels two different kinds of warfare, the one physical, with the external forces, and the other spiritual, against the dissidents in the churches. He is encouraging the faithful by disclosing that the Lamb has already been enthroned, the spiritual battle is won, and soon the external warfare will end.