Opus 2026-003: Uncharted Revelation: The Lego Wall

I’ve said it before, I’ll say it again.  I accept that the book of Revelation is part of the Bible.  I accept that it is inspired by the Holy Spirit.  I accept that it has something to say to us.  That’s one side of the coin.  The other side of the coin as far as I’m concerned is that we may not know what it says to us until we arrive glory.

My grandchildren are at the Lego stage.  To be honest with you I’m at the Lego stage.  I’ve been at that stage ever since I got my first Legos when I was 27.  So I don’t expect that to change.  But like much of life, there are lessons to be learned even from simple things like Legos.

Go with me in a room that is very dimly lit.  On the table in front of you are a pile of Legos.  For this thought experiment we will just use the basic blocks that are four buttons long by two buttons wide.  Picture the light being so dim that while you can recognize and handle the Legos, they all look either black or white.  If you want to be difficult, you can say they’re a few grays in there too, but generally speaking, you’ve got a pile of Legos that are black and white and you have decided that you are going to build a black wall.  You set to work.  You build with confidence.  Your wall is finished.  You say, “Look at my fine black wall.”

And then someone turns on the light.

You know where this is going because you know that good and well when you look at that wall, it is not going to be a black wall.  In fact, it’s possible that just by chance you got no black blocks in the wall at all.  Instead of a beautiful, consistent black wall, you are looking at a random collections of reds, blues, greens, and whatever other color would look black in dim light.

That is the book of Revelation to me.  I know that there is truth hidden in those Lego blocks of Revelation.  I just don’t think that we’re going to be able to see it in the light that we have.  We can guess.  We can take random shots.  We can manipulate it to fit our theological systems.  Who knows, maybe we’ll get lucky and get one spot right.

Don’t count on it.

That doesn’t mean there won’t be things you can learn from the principles expressed.  It doesn’t mean that the Holy Spirit might never speak to you about something you need to consider for that day.  But don’t expect to make the new Jerusalem out of the blocks of available to you.

homo unius libri