What did he Know?

This chapter is really the introduction to the rest of the book of Revelation. Here I will recap some thoughts that have been presented in each chapter so far, and will summarize that which is to come. But the validity of what I am presenting as a new understanding of Revelation based upon a disciplined and steady look at John, rests upon what is in this chapter.

Who was John? He was a pastor of a group of churches in the very early days of the Christian movement. He was a person educated in both the Jewish and Hellenistic disciplines, a gifted writer. And (here is a vital point) he was a prophet in the traditional Jewish sense; but a prophet who did not use the ancient formula, "Thus says The Lord!"

Rather, he used the style of the most recent form of written prophecy of his time, apocalyptic writing. You will find this style in the "between testament" writings found in some Bibles, called the Apocrypha. You will find it also in the Book of Daniel.

Apocalyptic writings deal with the end of the world, and use a lot of "hidden" language, the meaning of which is obvious to the group of readers to whom it is addressed. It is a style of writing, just as the murder mystery and science fiction are today. In fact, if you think of Revelation as a sort of combination murder mystery and science fiction story, you'll be very close to understanding what literary form John chose to try to communicate what he was wanting to say to us.

He had an immense task to undertake. He had to try to help you and me understand what he knew as a result of having received the vision and message. He had to use the literary tools at his disposal two thousand years ago. What he accomplished is a testimony to his skill, and is proof that the Holy Spirit was with him as he worked.

Let me try to give you some sense of what he was up against.

You have just seen the best basketball game of your life. It wasn't televised, so you know anyone who wasn't there will not have even seen clips of it. Your friend asks you how the game was. How do you respond?

You can just say, "That was the best game I have ever seen!" But that doesn't really tell your friend much. Some people say that after every game they see, or movie, or whatever. At any rate, if you give such a short report, your friend will have to fill in a lot of blanks in your report from her own experience. Rather than communicating your experience, you wind up repeating one of hers.

Or, you can give her a very long and detailed account of the game, the theories behind the strategies, the gambles that paid off and the ones that didn't. By the end of your report of the first quarter, she will be asleep or off seeing someone else.

How can we effectively communicate the excitement and depth of such a thing? It almost has to be dramatic.

Through gestures, animated narrative, and a liberal use of drama and creative license, we can begin to personally recount the most exciting game in the world with some accuracy. Of course, if we had the use of video film highlights to help make our report, that would be even better.

John didn't have television or cinema, but he did have an inspired imagination coupled with great writing skill. He had a "game" with generally accepted rules, which was the literary genre of apocalypse. This genre was rich with ideas and pictures which were ready to invoke and transform.

Let's get back to our greatest basketball game. In recounting the game, we get to a point where during a slam dunk, something so different happened that it totally redefined that aspect of the game. Now, in telling the story of the game, we don't have to explain what a slam dunk is. That is known. And we don't have to describe what a pass is. That is known too. But what happened when, out of inspiration or design, the first two players in the game COMBINED a pass an a slam dunk? We had to invent a new term.

Revelation is full of such things. Many of John's original readers were fully aware of the meanings of the terms he used. When he combined two which had formerly been unrelated, they knew instantly what he had accomplished by it.

What did John know? What was the experience which he was challenged/charged with passing along to us in a form that would do it justice?

There were three aspect to it. The first two are sequential and in time. They will be easy to present to you. The third will be a little challenging.

First,the vision itself was a moment of transcendence for John. Remember that a moment of transcendence is eternal. It passes all boundaries of time and space. When John experienced the vision, the whole universe was rearranged for him, and the center of the universe as now experienced, was the Creator.

How do I know this? I have read chapters four and five of Revelation.

The second aspect of what John "knew" that he had to communicate to us, was what happened during the dictation of the seven letters. His awareness was torn away from the perfection of God's creation, to the imperfections of what humans have done with it. Those were HIS churches that were being addressed!

It is a little bit like what happens when you have just sent the kids off to school, turned off your telephone, and begun your morning time of quiet meditation. Just as your spirit has become peaceful, and you begin to experience that inner calm which is so wonderful, the kids come bursting through the door with a loud tale about the neighborhood bully.

That is a LITTLE BIT like what happened to John. John set out to have a time of quiet devotion, and his experience was interrupted by prophetic vision. He was not experiencing a moment of peace and unity. He was experiencing peace and unity itself! When the seven letters "burst through the door," peace and unity did not leave, even though his awareness was drawn to the problems of the world.

This continued presence of the Holy in the worst of the world's experiences is the third aspect of what John had to communicate. This was his challenge: to let you and I know that in the midst of the worst that the world can dish out to us, God's perfect creation is still present, real, and available to us.

That was what he knew.

He had heard such before. He had considered it. He had very much wanted to believe it. Wouldn't you? Don't you?

But now he KNEW!

Come along. Let's see how John tried to communicate this new assurance to you and to me. Let's see how successful he was.

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