Revelation and Human Reality

1. Revelation and Human Reality sktonstad@llu.edu Session 63 A-level Amphitheater LLUMC April 23, 2011, 10:30-11:30 AM

2. Ending and Endings • Examples of endings: • Actual ending • Other endings • 7 churches • 7 seals • 7 trumpets • 7 bowls • ‘unattached endings’

3. Actual Ending Rev 22:10The one who testifies to these things says, “Surely I am coming soon.” This is the ending of Revelation, but it is not the ending of the story told in Revelation. This ending projects backwards into a historical reality that prevails far from the outer horizon of Revelation.

4. Evangelistic Ending – 1 Rev 22:17 The Spirit and the bride say, “Come.! And let everyone who hears say, “Come.” And let everyone who is thirsty come. Let anyone who wishes take the water of life as a gift. This is the ‘final call,’ in Revelation projecting into present reality. This should always be our ending.

5. Evangelistic Ending – 2 Rev 3:20Listen! I am standing at the door, knocking; if you hear my voice and open the door, I will come in to you and eat with you, and you with me. This is another ‘to-whom-it-may-concern’ ending with unrestricted application to present human reality.

6. A Time for Choosing… Rev 22:11 “Let the evildoer still do evil, and the filthy still be filthy, and the righteous still do right, and the holy still be holy.” This is a conspicuous ending, a point in time beyond which no one will change their relationship with God or their most deeply held allegiance.

7. …and a Time to Recognize the Choice Rev 20:12 And I saw the dead, great and small, standing before the throne, and books were opened. Also another book was opened, the book of life. And the dead were judged according to their works, as recorded in the books.

8. Ending with No End in Sight - 1 Rev 22:4 They will see his face, and his name will be on their foreheads. This is a glimpse of the post-parousia, post-millennial reality, an end that will never end.

9. Ending with No End in Sight - 2 Rev 15:4 “All nations will come and worship before you, for your judgments have been revealed.” Isaiah 66:23 From new moon to new moon, and from sabbath to sabbath, all flesh shall come to worship before me, says the LORD. This is another ending with no end in sight, going on forever and ever, time without end.

10. Cycles of Seven  7 SEALS  7 TRUMPETS  7 BOWLS

11. The Seventh Seal Rev 8:1 When the Lamb opened the seventh seal, there was silence in heaven for about half an hour. This is the ending of the first revelatory cycle.

12. The Seventh Trumpet Rev 11:19 Then God's temple in heaven was opened, and the ark of his covenant was seen within his temple; and there were flashes of lightning, rumblings, peals of thunder, an earthquake, and heavy hail. This is the ending of the second revelatory cycle.

13. The Seventh Bowl Rev 16:17 The seventh angel poured his bowl into the air, and a loud voice came out of the temple, from the throne, saying, “It is done!” This is the ending (sort of) of the third revelatory cycle.

14. Recapitulation View of the Seals, Trumpets, and Bowls

15. Sequential View of theSeals, Trumpets, and Bowls

16. ‘Revelatory’ View 7 SEALS 7 TRUMPETS 7 BOWLS

17. Revelatory View 7 TRUMPETS 7 BOWLS 7 SEALS

18. 7 TRUMPETS 7 BOWLS 7 SEALS

19. Silence in Heaven - 1 Rev 5:2 I saw a mighty angel pro-claiming with a loud voice, “Who has what it takes to open the scroll and break its seals?” Rev 5:3 And no one in heaven or on earth or under the earth was able to open the scroll or to look into it.

20. Silence in Heaven - 2 Rev 5:6 Then I saw in the middle of the throne and the four living creatures and in the middle of the elders a Lamb standing as if it had been brutally murderered, having seven horns and seven eyes, which are the seven spirits of God sent out into all the earth.

21. Reduced to Silence Isaiah 52:14-15 Just as there were many who were astonished at him-- so marred was his appearance, beyond human semblance, and his form beyond that of mortals-- so he shall startle many nations; kings shall shut their mouths because of him; for that which had not been told them they shall see, and that which they had not heard they shall contemplate.

22. Some Standing, Some Prostrate, All Silent Isa 49:7 Thus says the LORD, the Redeemer of Israel and his Holy One, to one deeply despised, abhorred by the nations, the slave of rulers, “Kings shall see and stand up, princes, and they shall prostrate themselves, because of the LORD, who is faithful, the Holy One of Israel, who has chosen you.”

23. 7 TRUMPETS 7 BOWLS 7 SEALS

24. Silence Before The ‘silence before’ is silence in the face of human reality. The ‘silence before’ is silence predicated on the appearance of divine inaction. The ‘silence before’ is grounded in the conviction that God is not doing what God ought to do with respect to solving the cosmic conflict.

25. Silence After The ‘silence after’ is silence in the face of the divine reality that is revealed in the middle. The ‘silence after’ is silence resulting from ‘the revelation of Jesus Christ.’ The ‘silence after’ is silence grounded in shock and awe in the face of the unexpected – silence in the face of what God has done to solve the cosmic conflict.

26. The Ending of Revelation Rev 8:1 When the Lamb opened the seventh seal, there was silence in heaven for about half an hour.