"If God did not want us to understand the book of Revelation, He would not have given it to us at all."
- Dwight L. Moody -
Revelation's "Hear/See" Paradigm: Part 1 ~ Part 2 ~ Part 3
I'm excited to begin sharing a new series with you today.
I hope this will be the first of many "Keys to Unlocking Revelation" or "Apocalypse Keys." I want to both refresh my own memory and understanding, and to share some helpful interpretive tools with you.
Like most of my series here on Steemit, additional articles are likely to appear at random intervals and often widely spaced. "Keys to Revelation" may not even appear initially in an ideal sequence. These are among the prime reasons I continue developing and maintaining My Steemit Library, which I hope you will visit early and often... 😉 If you find this series interesting, please encourage me with your comments to continue it.
Keys to Understanding Revelation
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Do you struggle to understand Revelation?
I know that I have struggled to understand the book, and still do at times.
Revelation, also known as The Apocalypse, was written by the apostle John. He also wrote the New Testament book of John, and the shorter First, Second, and Third John letters.
I've heard many sermons and read books containing wildly different and conflicting views of Revelation, and what its visionary symbols mean. The many voices can be very confusing.
However, during years of study, I've uncovered some structures and patterns that have helped me form a coherent view of the book. I hope in this series to share with you some of the "keys" that I've found. If you enjoy puzzles, think of the book of revelation as a big puzzle. I'm not promising arcane knowledge, but perhaps you'll discover some guidelines that may help you understand Revelation better.
Hear a description...
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Presenting the "Hear/See" Pattern.
Revelation is "apocalyptic literature." As such, it is highly symbolic, filled with unusual sensory data, both auditory and visual. But it does contain certain patterns, keys that are repeated over and over, and that can help us understand the book.
There is a repeated pattern I've noticed in the course of reading and re-reading The Apocalypse. From time to time I've searched for commentators who may have recognized this pattern, but to date I have not found any. If you have encountered this pattern elsewhere, I would be grateful for any reference you may be able to provide.
I am going to present the clearest example of the "Hear/See" pattern that I have discovered, and then I will invite you to look for other instances of that structure. Working from the clear to the more obscure, I believe you will find the "Hear/See" pattern is a key to better understanding the contents of the book.
See what was described...
Image courtesy of Gerd Altmann and http://pixabay.com
A very clear example.
"And one of the elders said to me, “Weep no more; behold, the Lion of the tribe of Judah, the Root of David, has conquered, so that he can open the scroll and its seven seals.”
"And between the throne and the four living creatures and among the elders I saw a Lamb standing, as though it had been slain, with seven horns and with seven eyes, which are the seven spirits of God sent out into all the earth."
- Revelation 5:5-6
What I would like to draw your attention to here is the sequence, structure, and pattern of what is happening in the moment from John's perspective. In order to do that, I am going to belabor the point.
First of all John hears something:
He first hears one of the elders speaking to him: "...one of the elders said to me...
This is auditory information. The elder is verbally commanding John to look at something.
I'll paraphrase:
"John, I'm talking to you now... listen up... hear what I have to say. I want you to look at something. I want you to open your eyes, turn your head, have a look at someone special, do you hear me? I want you to see the Lion of the tribe of Judah."
Imagine yourself in John's place.
You're not looking at anything yet. All you know is that an important elder is talking to you. You listen intently. He is asking you to look at something.
Based only on the description you just heard, what exactly are you are expecting to see?
You heard a Lion described...
Image courtesy of Robert Greene and http://pixabay.com
A LION, of course.
The elder just said "Look! Look at this Lion from the tribe of Judah! He has overcome." That is what you heard, and that is what you expect to see.
Now let's do what the elder has asked. Let's look. What is it that you actually see?
Is it a lion? No!
You see a Lamb...
Image courtesy of Catherine Stockinger and http://pixabay.com
You see a LAMB,
not a lion at all.
You see a lamb, one that appears to have been slain.
Hear/See.
That is the pattern. It occurs, again and again, throughout the Apocalypse. You (as the apostle John, writing the book) first hear descriptions and then see what was described.
In this first example,
we've seen a correlation that virtually all theologians agree upon, one that you no doubt already know. We've seen the example of Jesus who is, simultaneously, both the Lion of the tribe of Judah, and also the meek and mild Lamb of God who takes away the sins of the world.
My thesis is that this is a significant pattern, one that will be useful to you as you read and study the book of Revelation. If you attend carefully, you will find other instances of this pattern, and when you understand that what John heard and what John saw are one and the same thing—no matter how different the symbolic descriptions may be—I believe you will gain new insight into the book.
Keys to Understanding Revelation
Image courtesy of mastersenaiper and http://pixabay.com
Now it's your turn.
Go back and start reading the book of Revelation again, this time with new eyes. Be intentionally conscious of this "Hear/See" pattern.
Ask yourself, as if you were John: "What am I hearing right now?"
Then, when you (as John) turn around, or open your eyes, or look...
What do you see?
Finally, ask yourself if it is possible that what you heard and what you saw are not two different things? Could they, instead, possibly be two different ways of looking at the same thing?
Here's a hint to get you started:
There's another example of "Hear/See" in the very first chapter of Revelation...
FIN
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