Let me offer a word of thanks to everyone who has hopped aboard this train ride through the book of Revelation. If you have managed to read these posts (nine, in number) without canceling your subscription or otherwise waging war against me, you are entitled to claim a merit badge for Patient Endurance.
I am aware that my “train ride” metaphor may not be the best. For the path that I have led you may seem more like a plunge into the deep, where you can only see what’s right in front of you; and, meantime, the surface where you began may seem far away.
This is why I’m borrowing a different metaphor today - The Submarine.
Ever since I saw the movie Red October, I’ve been fascinated with the modern submarine - how it works, how it’s run, what it can and cannot do. One important “can do” is the submarine’s capability to rise to periscope depth, where, still hidden beneath the water, a telescopic lens can unobtrusively look in every direction, alerting the boat’s handlers of any activity on the surface.
This post is my attempt to return to the surface after an extended time in the deep. The “deep” in this case is the first three chapters of Revelation; and the periscope takes us upward where we can see our lives and our world in light of what we have seen in the deep.
And I begin by observing that we are but one-eighth of the way through Revelation. That’s right - if you have found yourself hankering in your heart that perhaps we can now pop the hatch and disembark the boat, I can only say, “Not yet.”
And “Not Yet” is a theme we see often in Revelation. John’s vision makes clear that the Christian faith, whether in the first century or the twenty-first century, requires a sustained determination to embrace faith and obedience. This letter addresses those who are meant to overcome or conquer their fears and faithlessness. They are to expect trials and tribulation. They are alerted to the fact that forces of evil will be given enough rope to wreak havoc on the people of God. And even as the martyrs before the throne of God cry out for justice, the word from the throne is, “Not yet.”
So we aren’t there yet. But where have the first chapters left us? What comes into view when we raise the periscope? Let me give it to you bluntly:
The Worst is Yet to Come. And the Best is Yet to Come.
The Worst is Yet to Come
To state this is to invite an assault from all sides. Some people write off Revelation as the angry screed, the wacko dreams of a man whose predictions will come to nothing. But even Christians take exception to this statement. Why? They say, “Surely this discounts the transforming effect of the spread of the gospel. Isn’t it too pessimistic to expect doom and gloom?”
This is a valid question, and it requires our attention to what this “Worst” is and is not. To begin with, “Worst” does not suggest that the human race in its entirety will become absolute devils. It doesn’t mean that people will be the worst that they can be. Nor does it mean in every place the persecution of the church will be at fever pitch.
When we speak of “the worst to come”, we are taking our cues from Scripture, not from news headlines. And it is from the text of Revelation that we can define “worst.” I take as my anchor statement the words found in Revelation 12.
And the great dragon was thrown down, that ancient serpent, who is called the devil and Satan, the deceiver of the whole world - he was thrown down o the earth, and his angels were thrown down with him. And I heard a loud voice in heaven, saying, “Now the salvation and the power and the kingdom of our God and the authority of our Christ has come….Therefore, rejoice, O heavens and all who in them! But woe to you, O earth and sea, for the devil has come down to you in great wrath, because he knows his time is short”
John’s vision establishes side-by-side truths for the church to believe and embrace. Christ has conquered the devil and all his hosts, and all believers stand in triumph over the devil’s lies and claims. That victory has been won, and it cannot be undone. Christ’s sacrificial death has purchased our freedom from the cycle of sin and death.
But there is a corresponding negative truth alongside the first: The devil has come down in great wrath, because he knows his time is short. As long as the devil remains present in this world, we should expect the worst of the devil’s schemes, for the devil is desperate. His anger is vented against all humanity, believer and non-believer, male and female, young and old. And of that we can be certain.
The text of Revelation reveals another thematic element which defines “worst”. Occupying a number of chapters in Revelation are visions of seals broken, trumpets sounded, and bowls poured out. It is beyond dispute that these are acts of judgment, for “with them the wrath of God is finished” (15:1). In fact, the final seal broken, trumpet sounded, and bowl poured out all depict the coming of Christ and the day of judgment.
What Revelation shows is that, if the worst of the devil is to come, an even worse destiny awaits those who follow his deceptions, those who receive the mark of the beast. God’s works of judgment throughout history (Chapter 6) are only the prelude to the final day of reckoning.
But even so, the worst of the story is not the end of the story. The triumph of the saints who overcome the serpent reaches its climax with John’s final vision - a new heavens and a new earth. When the worst has done its worst, there is a new scene on the horizon.
The Best Is Yet to Come
Beginning in Chapter 4, we encounter scenes from before the throne of God which detail the certainty of the saints’ everlasting rest. These scenes build a cumulative picture of our assurance of grace and salvation, a salvation which can withstand the worst of the devil.
Unlike the cry of despair of the unbelieving (“the day of their wrath has come, and who can stand?” 6:17), Chapter 7 displays a vast multitude whom no one could count standing before the throne. They are sealed against the wrath to come, even though they will suffer at the hands of the beast (13:7-10). Their place in God’s kingdom is secure. Their names are written in the Lamb’s book of life. And those who die in the Lord rest from their labors.
But in Chapters 21-22, the best has now arrived - a never-ending day with no mourning, crying, or pain, for the former things have passed away. And this is the true measure of the “Best” - the worst which was to come is now among the former things which have passed away. Christ is no longer the one who was, and is, and is to come; he was, and is, and will be forever.
A Far Green Country
In Tolkien’s The Return of the King, the Hobbit Pippin stands with Gandalf as Minas Tirinth is beseiged by the armies of Sauron, leading to this conversation.
Pippin: “I didn’t think it would end this way.”
Gandalf: “End? No, the journey doesn’t end here. Death is just another path, one which we must all take. The gray rain-curtain of this world rolls back, and all turns to silver glass, and then you see it…”
Pippin: “What, Gandalf? See what?
Gandalf: “White shores, and beyond, a far green country under a swift sunrise.”
Pippin: “Well, that isn’t so bad…”
Gandalf: “No, no it’s not.”
This is what the Up Periscope brings into view - yes, a gray, stormy, and brutal voyage; but beyond, a joyous arrival at a safe haven. It’s a one-way trip which leaves the gray behind.
And that’s isn’t so bad.