Blessed is the one who reads aloud the words of this prophecy, and blessed are those who hear it and take to heart what is written in it, because the time is near. – Revelation 1:3

Today’s Scripture Reading (March 15, 2015): Revelation 1

The end is near. Well, maybe. Prophecies are tricky things, and always easier to read after the fact. The problem with a true prophecy is that the one doing the prophesying seldom really understands what it is that they are saying. Often the one who sees think that they understand, but in reality it is only an elusive shadow that can never really be grasped. And this is the reason why a prophecy can never be used as a roadmap into the future. No matter how many Bible studies on biblical prophecy we might want to attend, we still will not have any real idea what happens next. But after it happens, then we will see it clearly, at least we will if we are really looking for it.

So Revelation begins identifying that itself as a prophecy, with all that a prophecy entails. It is full of shadows of things to come. Some maybe long in the future. Maybe something about end times. But it also has a lot to do with the world in which John lived.

John begins by indicating that there is a beatitude or a blessing for all those who will read the prophecy aloud. The comment is directed at congregations. The blessing is due to the fact that, at least partially, Revelation is about the worship of the church. Or maybe more precisely it is about the object of our worship. This is the story of what happens when we come into contact with the living God.

But it is also about the events that are going to happen, and according to John, events that are coming soon. There is absolutely no doubt that John was looking at the events of the Roman Empire that were taking place all around him. Some of the imagery that he uses in the prophecy were taken right from that world. He was expecting that the church would be persecuted by the Romans in the near future, and John wasn’t wrong. The church needed to be prepared for the persecution that was coming next if they were going to survive.

For this reason, we think that some of this prophecy has already taken place, and some is yet to come. The argument of scholars is over which is which, and that is a question we might not be really able to answer until the end is no longer near, it is reserved for a time when the end is - over.

Tomorrow’s Scripture Reading: Revelation 2