Imagery from the book of Revelation permeates our culture.  It has such vivid imagery:  plagues and famine, fire and darkness, wars and ominous horsemen, angels and heavenly kingdoms, beasts and demons, Christ and the antichrist.  Even people who don’t go to church know many of these images.  This week Newsweek features the authors of the Left Behind series, Tim LaHaye and Jerry Jenkins.  Their novels have sold 62,000,000 copies.  These novels interpret John’s apocalypse as predicting events in our time.  For two thousand years, people have thought these visions of John were predicting particular events in their time.

If Revelation were really a book of prediction of future events two thousand years away from the date of John’s writing, it would have been meaningless to its first readers and would not have been a letter to them at all.  Eugene Boring (a good name for a seminary professor), author of the Interpretation Commentary on Revelation, has written, "Revelation has a message for out time, but it does not make predictions bout it."

In order to understand John’s letter, it is helpful to learn a little about the time and place of John’s audience.  How may they have understood the book of Revelation?  My historical information for this sermon comes mainly from Boring’s book.  Most scholars believe Revelation was written in the

mid 90’s CE to churches in Asia Minor, what is modern day Turkey.  The years leading up to John’s letter were tumultuous times.  I want to lift up four significant points for interpreting Revelation:

            1)  Problems from the geography of Asia Minor

            2) The Emperor Nero

            3)  Israel’s war with Rome

            4)  The Emperor Dominitian

In the years preceding John’s letter, earthquakes devastated Asia Minor.  In 79 CE the volcano Vesuvius erupted, burying towns and creating a widespread cloud of darkness.  In the early 90’s CE, there was a severe famine in Asia Minor.

Christianity was made up of primarily poor peasants and was considered a weird, unpatriotic cult.  Thus when Rome caught fire and burned in 64 CE, Christians made easy scapegoats for the Emperor Nero.  Nero gathered Christians up and had them executed in extremely cruel ways.  Nero committed suicide in 68 CE, but the circumstances of his death led to rumors that he had not died and would return with an army of Parthians, of whom the Romans had great fear.  (Think Osama bin Laden)  In later versions of the myth, Nero’s death was accepted, but in the popular imagination, his image became mixed with that of the antichrist, a demonic figure of the underworld, associated with the God Beliar, who would return in the last days and wreak terror on the earth’s inhabitants. 

The third point that had a huge impact on the world view of Christians in John’s time was Israel’s war with Rome.  In the mid 60’s CE, Israel decided it was tired of Roman oppression and decided to fight back.  The Roman army marched into Israel and burned, raped, and murdered all along their way to Jerusalem.  It took the Romans a while to breach the wall in Jerusalem, but when they finally did in 70 CE, they destroyed the city, including the temple.

Some of the Jewish Christians were able to escape the Roman army and flee north into Asia Minor.  It is at this point that the seed churches that Paul had planted really began to grow.  Not only was there an influx of refugees into the churches, the message of the Gospel started to make more sense.  With God’s house being destroyed, maybe, as Jesus and Paul had said, the real temple of God is within the body and soul of the New Jerusalem, the Church.  And with the failure of violence, maybe Jesus’ message of power through non-violent love was the way to go.  John saw those Jewish Christians as the New Israel, the true representatives of the twelve tribes of Israel.  This is the significance of the 144,000 in Revelations 7.

Still the tribulations were not ending for those refugees from Jerusalem, or the resident aliens in Asia Minor.  Worshipping this non-violent, loving Jesus who seemed to embody the very Spirit of the one true God was not about to get easy.  The Roman authorities demanded worship of both the Goddess Roma, what Revelations calls the whore of Babylon, and the Roman emperor.  And in the late 80’s CE and early 90’s CE, the Emperor Dominitian instituted harsher enforcement of emperor worship.  Those who would not curse Christ and worship Dominitian as Lord were put to death.

Besides Revelation, we don’t have much from the time of Dominitian.  I would like to read excerpts from a letter written by Pliny, the governor of Bithynia asking advice with regard to the interrogation of Christians from the Emperor Trajan, around 112 CE, roughly 20 years after the writing of Revelation.  This helps us to understand the attitude of the Roman government and the general public toward Christians.  This letter is found in Boring’s Commentary.

Pliny writes, "I have never been present at the interrogation of Christians.  Therefore, I do not know how far such investigations should be pushed, and what sorts of punishments are appropriate…

"I have handled those who have been denounced to me as Christians as follows:  I asked them whether they were Christians.  Those who have responded affirmatively I have asked a second and third time, under threat of the death penalty.  If they persisted in their confession, I had them executed.  (Latin perseverantes, related to ’endurance,’ Greek hopomone, is the central virtue of Christians in Revelation.)  For whatever it is that they are actually advocating," Pliny continues, "it seems to me that obstinacy and stubbornness must be punished in any case.  Others who labor under the same delusion but who were Roman citizens, I have designated to be sent to Rome.

"An unsigned placard was posted, accusing a large number of people by name.  Those who denied being Christians now or in the past, I thought necessary to release, since they invoked our gods according to the formula I gave them, and since they offered sacrifices of wine and incense before your image which I had brought in for this purpose along with the statues of our gods.  I also had them curse Christ.  It is said that real Christians cannot be forced to do any of these things.

"Others charged by this accusation at first admitted that they had once been Christians, but had already renounced it; they had in fact been Christians, but had given it up, some of them three years ago, some even earlier, some as long as 25 years ago (note, Dominitian’s time).  All of these worshipped your image and statues of the gods, and cursed Christ.  They verified, however, that their entire guilt or error consisted in the fact that on a specified day before sunrise they were accustomed to gather and sing an antiphonal hymn to Christ as their god and pledge themselves by an oath not to engage in any crime, but to abstain from all thievery, assault, and adultery, not break their word once they had given it, and to not refuse to pay their legal debts.  They went their separate ways and came together later to eat a common meal, but it was ordinary, harmless food.  They discontinued even this practice in accordance with my edict by which I had forbidden political associations, in accord with your instruction.  I considered it all the more necessary to obtain by torture and confession the truth from two female slaves, whom they called ‘deaconesses.

"I adjourned further hearings, in order to seek counsel from you.  The matter seems to me in need of good counsel, especially in view of the large number of accused.  For many, of every age and class, of both sexes, are in danger of prosecution both now and in the future.  The plague of this superstition has spread not only in the cities, but through villages and the countryside…I believe a stop can be made…the temples are gaining more visitors…the long neglected sacred festivals are again regularly observed, and the sacrificial meat, for which buyers have been hard to find, is again being purchased.  From this, one can easily see what an improvement can be made in the masses, when one gives room for repentance."

The Emperor Trajan responds to Pliny by affirming his handling of the matter.

I find this letter extremely interesting.  We hear that learned Romans consider Christianity a vulgar, excessive superstition.  Yet they consider it enough of a political threat that those who are found out and do not worship the emperor and curse Christ are put to death.  Nevertheless, Christianity has spread considerably, among all classes.  It is also interested to me that is took us until 1958 to ordain women leaders, while in 112 female slaves had found official leadership roles in the Church.  Can you imagine this female slave standing in the palace before the Rome appointed governor, empowered by the liberating Spirit, refusing to worship the Roman Emperor and persisting in the face of death to worship the peasant Jesus as King of Kings and Lord of Lords?

It is from within this context that John writes his letter.  People are overwhelmed with the evil and destruction in the world around them.  They are at risk of being tortured and executed.  It is easy to understand how John may see Roman kings as different heads on a great monster, and Rome as a richly adorned whore who tempts the people and nations with her beauty, yet draws them in to her scheme of evil and oppression.  It is beginning to be hard for Christians to remain faithful and hopeful.  John writes to put all this mayhem in perspective. 

The appropriate application of John’s letter became more difficult as Christianity gained popularity.  As someone pointed out in a conversation yesterday, it is very hard to transfer the ideology of the revolution beyond the victory.  When Constantine made the Christian faith the official religion of the empires, those who John labeled the beast and the whore were united with the Lamb.  The wolf put on sheep’s clothing.  We can be sure the role of women and slaves in the Church, and the liberating power of the Gospel for the poor decreased, as its popularity as propaganda for the empire increased.   It wasn’t long before the empire was interpreted to be what John called the 1000 year reign of Christ.  The King/Pope was the embodied representative of Christ, wielding the sword to spread the Good News and the Kingdom of God.  Worshipping the emperor and Christ became much the same thing. 

Even though John was not predicting particular events that are happening today it is possible to see similarities and analogies.  In terms of power, we are the Rome and Babylon of our day.  While it is true that it is the populous and not the elite who are reading Left Behind, it is tough to decide whether that populous is analogous to the Church which was John’s audience, or the reactionary populous who turned Christians in for being unpatriotic and non-religious.  We should not be surprised if the peasant Christians of El Salvador, Nicaragua, and Palestine and non-Christian peasants the world over have a differing opinion. 

If we understand apocalypse as a time when the world as we know it comes to an end, we are in an apocalyptic time, and we do not yet know what is next or how to handle it.  Examples: 

1. A third of the world’s species are threatened with extinction, the Earth is warming, polar ice caps are melting, and the population is at 6 billion.  And since tuna and air, ecosystems and cultures don’t contain themselves within the lines we draw on maps, it has proven extremely difficult to institute sustainable change. 

2.   Nuclear destruction is once again a very real threat. 

3.  Soon the rich will be able to choose the sex and health of their baby, or to clone the "perfect" child.  We can staple our stomach and take a pill for an erection, while poor children continue to die from bacterial infections and starvation, and their parents from AIDS.  The rapid change of our technology and knowledge has far outpaced our ability to control it in a just and righteous manner. 

Sexuality is another example.  The sexual morality which denied the embodied joy God created us for is no longer adequate.  We sense that Christ would bless our friends who have chosen to commit their lives to one another in love, regardless of gender.  Still, into the vacuum, lacking a coherent and healthy sexual ethic, there has poured unbounded hedonism, broken families, and overt exploitation of the human body for the market.  And the nation who imagines it to be the promoter of freedom and humane, civil society is caught on video acting more like Sodom and Gomorrah.   I wish I could make it plain!

Our myth of the USA as God’s invincible nation has been struck, not by another great power but by a small band of religious zealots.  In fear and righteous anger we have struck back with awesome power.  Like killing an ant with a sledge hammer, our methods don’t seem able to match the task, and the world looks upon us with growing fear and anger.  To combat the threat of Islamic extremists, we have pumped ourselves up with an equally self righteous religious zealotry, and we have begun to think that perhaps our comfort in Pleasantville is more important then maintaining liberty and just for all.

It is here, I feel, where John’s Revelation may come in handy.  I hope and pray the pessimistic picture of gloom and doom I have just painted is far from the real future before us.  Much progress had been made on the environment, and certainly technology and the market is giving us wonderful and powerful gifts.  Who want to give up their pace maker, or the TV remote control?  Wives, don’t answer that.  And while I am the first to criticize our laziness, I actually like those prepackaged peanut butter and jelly sandwiches.  Who does not dream of the day when their child can be born without a life imperiling disease?  And while I am in favor of making it difficult to destroy natural or cultural habitat, I shower with water from a dam, and live in a house built with trees and drive to surf on the power of oil.  I selfishly pray that somehow we will be able to maintain a world with sufficient justice, that Americans, my children and I, can continue on in relative peace and prosperity.  I still believe this is possible, but my faith in my nation is slipping.

Yet I am not sure this is the message of the writing on the wall.  History tells us that as empires rise, they also decline, and sooner or later, the ignorance and injustice of a people will come back to bite them.  Denial catches up to us.  Now as never in my life, I feel vulnerable and afraid for our nation.  If terrorism continues to grow and natural resources continue to decline, if we are hit by another massive terrorist attack, how quickly will we be willing to give up our faith in Christian and democratic values to seek vengeance and safety?  How hard will it be to stand up against reactionary and vengeful forces?  How hard is it?

It is here that we hear God call upon our faith.  It is possible, God says, to persevere for righteousness, to live a life of grace and truth, even without oil, even when our planes stop flying and jobs and food are scarce.  Sooner or later our nation will go down, but let us go down as we stand up for what is right and true and eternal.  May we have the vision to recognize the Babylon in Zion, the beast and the prostitute in our own faith, and the suffering Christ calling out to us in the faith of another.