Have you ever seen a film or read a book with a great ending? Everything begins to fall into place, and people who were formerly minor players now become essential to the outcome. Places mentioned in the opening scenes reappear at the end and start to make sense, and you begin to perceive the entire story in a new light with greater clarity. It's even better if there are signs that the plot will continue beyond the book or film. When I think of some of my favourite films, the final lines do just that: they signpost to a continuing story. For example, "Hang on, lads; I've got a great idea",[ 1] or "Roads? Where we're going, we don't need roads!"[2]
On the last page of the Bible, a symbol of hope reappears, which makes us think again of the beginning, but if you read it quickly you will miss it:
On each side of the river stood the tree of life..[3]
Where do you remember reading about the tree of life before? Genesis! The world was created as a shared space, God and humanity living together. But as sin and evil entered, humanity was driven out into a state of exile and the tree of life was protected from humanity. We've been living in a broken world ever since - but it is a world God has brought an ultimate solution through Jesus, and one day the world will be restored to its former glory, where the tree of life is freely available.
I've recently spent some time in Revelation with the help of Scot McKnight's book, 'Revelation for the rest of us', and I've concluded that Revelation is a book of hope that is very relevant for today, but perhaps not in the way it has traditionally been read. In my experience, Revelation has either been avoided or considered with a largely dispensationalist viewpoint, reading it literally with a prediction-heavy mindset and seeing the text as chronological steps. When we do this, we miss out on joy and hope; I've lost count of the arguments I've heard over which country is Babylon, whether the number 666 relates to the Euro, barcodes, vaccines, or a particular world leader, and also the role Israel will play. Even worse in my view is the damage done by the ‘Left behind’ series, which has encouraged all sorts of fears and false teachings about the future based on a misreading of Revelation.
Revelation is not about a rapture out of this world but about faithful discipleship in this world. It is timeless theology rather than specific predictions. It was written by John (not necessarily the apostle John) to help shape our perceptions of the present and the future. John encourages us to become double dissidents, criticising both culture and the church. John states through the imagery that there is too much Empire in the church and not enough church in the Empire. Isn't that also a relevant criticism for today? Do we not need to re-find our voice on such matters?
There is so much anxiety, stress, and anger stemming from the fact that the future seems to be out of our control. However, the risen Jesus guarantees our ultimate destiny and promises to be with us every step of the way. Surely, we can live with a deep sense of certainty, whether we did well in school or not, whether our boss wants to discuss promotion or redundancy, and whether the test results are malignant or benign; our ultimate hope remains steadfast. Amen?
And as followers of Jesus, we need to remind ourselves that our final destination is not heaven (pause for sharp intake of breath) the story continues. Our future is in a re-created world, where things are made new, put right – a world where we live in close relationship with God. The future we inherit is the paradise we lost in the garden of Eden, with the balance of society and nature working in perfect harmony. The shalom we forfeited in the beginning will be restored in the end – doesn’t that sound more hopeful?
Perhaps this is a weak metaphor, but it feels a little like watching Match of the Day when we already know the final score. People who don't know the score can get nervous of their team going a goal down, but if you know the final score, you watch in a very different way. So rather than ‘tutting’ at the news and shaking our heads, trying to identify the dragon, why don’t we live in light of our hopeful ending, finding our voice to challenge culture and leaders when they act inappropriately. Critiquing our institutions for embodying too many world values and metrics in their measurements. Working with God in the re-creating of our world by how we consume many of the precious resources, and dealing fairly and equitably with parts of the world that are currently ‘forgotten.’ Let us live as people of hope.
Simon Mattholie
CEO, Rural Ministries
[1] The Italian Job
[2] Back to the future
[3] Revelation 22:2 (NLT)
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