Faithful Witness, Shadows of Empire, and The Revelation
How the peculiar book from the Bible, the Revelation, gives us a different paradigm for resistance and hope
Growing up, reading the book of Revelation was such a frightening task for me. The mark of the Beast? 666? I understood the concept of God’s judgment but so much of the imagery was wild. I wasn’t as familiar with this movie until high school, but the “Left-Behind” movies are probably what has shaped my understanding of this book the most.
Christian traditions have differed in the right way to interpret this book for centuries, but reading “Reading Revelation Responsibly” by Michael J. Gorman has given me a foot to stand on.
We can get so caught up in the intricate symbolism, surreal imagery, and numeric sequences that we can miss out on the main themes of the book.
I even forget that at the end of the day, the meaning of the letter had to first make sense and be applicable to the original audiences in the 1st century Roman Empire.
And what can we say about Rome?
The Roman Empire was the known world’s superpower. It had conquered lands from all over and demanded tribute from the nations under its reign.
One thing I have been learning is that throughout the Bible, there are recurring symbols full of meaning that the writers of the Scriptures will take and apply to their own day.
The recurring archetype for rebellious, unjust, idolatrous kingdoms is the ancient Kingdom of Babylon. John takes that archetype and applies that to the Roman Empire, the superpower of his day.
The context of Revelation is that the author of the letter, John the Elder, is in exile on the Island of Patmos because of his Christian faith.
He chronicles receiving powerful visions from the Lord and shares them with these early Christian communities who were dealing with persecution and tempted to compromise with the surrounding culture and give into imperial worship and propaganda.
For a breakdown of the whole letter, check out Bible Project two part video breakdown. Here is Part 1:
Towards A Paradigm of Resistance and Hope
Looking back to the letter of Revelation and the OT, here are a few lessons I take from my readings.
1. Revelation reminds us that ALL unjust kingdoms and oppressors will have to give an account.
Through the Old Testament, and other Jewish literature, it was always a point to remind those that there is a God who reigns on high and is indeed the KING of kings.
Whether Christian or not, we would all largely agree on the importance of justice and we are greatly grieved when it seems that injustice is ignored. That’s not just a biological response. This is a God-given reaction.
Conceptions of judgment may offend our modern sensibilities, but the Hebrew Psalms that speak about God’s judgment hit different when you are part of the oppressed who need rescue when all has failed.
As we advocate and work for justice in the here-and-now, I am comforted by the fact that in the Christian perspective, no one ultimately gets away with anything. This isn’t just a positive outlook or perspective, but something deeply rooted in the character of a trustworthy God.
The living God SEES.
To the oppressed and afflicted, this is a message of hope, encouragement, and joy.
To the unjust and arrogant, this is a message of judgement and warning.
2. To follow Jesus is to walk in the prophetic tradition, which means we are committed to truth-telling out of love.
I am deeply grateful to be an American citizen, and I seek our welfare continually, but I also always recognize that America is no exception to the rule and that, like Rome and other global superpowers, has built its economic prosperity through violent oppression, subjugation, and destabilization of other nations (Look into the history of several Latin American countries) .
I deeply appreciate the freedoms and liberties that I receive here as an American citizen, but we can also be committed to telling the whole truth.
I am reminded of the famous quote by James Baldwin ,
One might think from reading the Old Testament prophets and the life of Jesus in the Four Gospels,
you would have thought they hated Israel with how much they denounced and critiqued the nation.
But actually THEY loved Israel more because the prophets knew the path they were heading on was leading to destruction.
When the prophet Elijah goes to meet the evil King Ahab in 1 Kings 18, Ahab says to Elijah
“Is that you, you troubler of Israel?”
Elijah responds by saying “I have not made trouble for Israel, but you and your father’s family have. You have abandoned the Lord’s commands and have followed the Baals”.
WELL.
If Elijah was truly a troubler, it was the type of good, necessary trouble that the late John Lewis spoke on top of the Edmund Pettis Bridge on March 1st, 2020.
John Lewis himself was a son of the historic Black Church tradition, which as a whole has served as prophets (truth-tellers) to the largely complicit American church in its racism and white supremacy for centuries.
In our own time, we don’t need to act like the American cause is completely synonymous with the Kingdom of God and the cause of Jesus. So much sorrow and confusion has resulted in the conflation of these two things.
We can call America to an account and not have to feel, in doing so, that Jesus has failed and that the Christian message is false.
The tomb being empty is not dependent on maintaining American glory and triumphalist narratives. His Kingdom will never end. We can speak freely. We are free.
3. Our faithful witness to Jesus and the Kingdom will conform to the pattern of Jesus, which will often mean opposition, persecution, and suffering. But we believe that the Lord will vindicate us in the end as the Risen Lord.
Revelation Chapter 11 is essentially a picture of this. The Christians speak about Jesus, the Cross, and the Kingdom and are eventually killed for their faithful witness. Those who killed them are rejoicing and celebrating their deaths. Yet suddenly they are resurrected from the dead as a sign of their vindication from God.
In the godly cause of speaking truth, justice, and mercy, we may be opposed, slandered, and attacked. But we trust that we do not run our course in vain, for we trust in a God who vindicates those on the side of truth in the end.
Death is not the final word because we look to Jesus, the one who conquered death by death.
4. From a Christian paradigm, evil is on its last legs and is thrashing out because it knows “its time is short”.
Have you ever seen an animal fight for its life when it is danger of being killed? When the prey is in the jaws of its predator? It is relentless. So it is in the world today.
Generally speaking, Christians believe that what happened on Good Friday through Easter morning 2000 years ago in the 1st century was the beginning of the end of evil and the inauguration of God’s kingdom.
Satan is on a rampage. The work of Satan is not only to direct us away from the living God, but to destroy human beings — the crowning work of God.
The Apostle Paul, in a letter to Christian communities in Galatia, says
“Grace and peace to you from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ, who gave himself for our sins to rescue us from the present evil age, according to the will of our God and Father, to whom be glory for ever and ever. Amen.”
It was easy for me to read this section and keep it moving.
But notice that Paul describes human history this side of Jesus returning as “the present evil age”. This was not only a theological assessment but a political assessment.
Dr. Esau McCaulley from his recent book Reading While Black: African American Biblical Interpretation As An Exercise In Hope says
“This ‘present evil age’ can be understood to include the demonic evil of slavery in Rome and economic exploitation of the populace, both of which existed because of the policies of Roman leadership as dictated by spiritual forces.”
Take that in for a second.
Now it is definitely good to celebrate human progress .
I believe God created and endued us with rationality, skill, creativity, dignity, and life. We were created to reflect the Creator’s goodness, wisdom, and love into the world. The Lord always desired for us to create and produce civilization.
We have to remember the still existing disparities, bloodshed, oppression, and corruption that mows down lives, even to this present moment.
I can even look at the recent incidents in my native country of Nigeria as an example.
We also take into account those whose sufferings go unnoticed every day and only occasionally do we grasp the horrors that take place in the world.
This doesn’t mean we have an absolute pessimistic perspective about everything and believe every conspiracy, but it does mean we can should never truly be shocked about evil, from wherever it springs up, no matter the individual or the institution.
Romans 3:23 says all have sinned and fallen short of the glory of God.
No one is exempt.
To still be shocked or resistant to believe that people actually can be so nefarious may be reflective of our social and class location, privilege, and embrace of mythology and a glory narrative rather than actual history.
Yes, systemic racism exists and was not an accidental state of affairs but an intentional one and whose continual legacy we have to unwind.
Yes, there are people in positions of power who authorize predatory lending to minority communities.
Yes, even at this present moment, there are entire policing groups who are abusing their power and silence those who petition for deep change.
Yes, trusted leaders who we may admire deeply and are known to so endearing and generous can and may be sexually abusing those under their charge.
Yes, the country that we may be citizens of can be underhanded in their dealings with other nations and taking advantage of their weakened state despite public posturing and PR.
We still live in the “present evil age”.
We are not in the world to come.
In other words, this ain’t it.
As we continue to contend with the ongoing legacy of racism, white supremacy, anti-Blackness, and all kinds of evil in this world,
we have to understand that the powers that be (in both senses of the phrase) indeed have a vested interest in destroying God’s good creation — body and soul.
Nihilism has been one historical response to the continual atrocities we see take place.
Yet fact that Black Americans are not overwhelmingly atheists or nihilists despite a long history of violence, subjugation, slavery and Jim Crow by professing Christian leaders is astonishing to me.
One of the greatest testaments to the veracity of the Christian message is the existence of the historic Black Church.
One could say this “Well, these people were just gullible, mentally chained people, and incurably religious.”
Well, I guess that is one way one could respond to the tragic history and ongoing struggles many wrestle with.
But maybe,
just maybe!
Black Christians were the right interpreters of the Scriptures and knew that the Lord God was best known and revealed through the Exodus and the Cross.
As the Liberator of both body and soul.
Maybe the testimony of African fathers and mothers who continued to trust in Jesus actually matter!
I wouldn’t presume to have all the answers but there are paths towards hope.
5. What Christians believe will be one day true of the whole universe must inform our present ethics.
We find greater clarity for our responsibility in the present as we consider God’s heart and destiny for humanity and the entire created order.
Revelation chapter 7 and 21 give us a trailer of what is to come.
What is shown in these Scriptures is the fulfillment of God’s original purposes.
In the Lord’s prayer, we pray for God to make these things true now and to live out his purposes now:
“Our Father in heaven,
May your name be honored as holy, May your kingdom come,
May your will be done,
on earth as it is in heaven.
Give us today our daily bread.
And forgive us our sins,
as we also have forgiven those who sin against us.
And lead us not into temptation,
but deliver us from the evil one.”
For yours is the Kingdom, the power, and the glory, forever and ever.
We can see that Revelation informs us that God will bring an end to all ethnic and cultural conflict one day and we will be united together in peace as a manifold testament to the reconciling power of God.
So in the present, we contend for a vision for unified humanity through the message of the Cross.
A future beyond vengeance can only be imagined and somewhat practiced in the now because of the Cross.
The hope articulated in the Scriptures for what is called the Church is such a beautiful one. I wrote about this in an earlier Medium story.
We believe and know that there will be a day that no one will hunger or thirst. Therefore we look to feed the hungry and the thirsty, out of love for humanity but also as a testament to the future that we believe Jesus will bring at his coming.
We know there is a day coming where there will be no homelessness or threats from natural and environmental disaster. So in the present we advocate for wise and just housing and environmental policies for the least of us.
God in the end will wipe away every tear and everything that brings us sorrow. So we seek to bring relief to what brings suffering to humanity. We seek to be agents of healing in our communities, neighborhoods, and cities.
Systems like slavery will have no place in God’s redeemed world. Economic systems founded on the exploitation of human persons will be eliminated. So in the present, we point to the dignity and worth of every human individual and promote alternative systems.
We believe that God will bring a day where there will be no more violence and bloodshed. So in the now we are peacemakers like Archbishop Desmond Tutu, and we show ourselves to be God’s children in the process.
On Earth As It is In Heaven.
