Opus 2026-208: Uncharted Revelation: I Need a GPS

This past week, I found myself reading all the way to the end of the book of Revelation again. I can’t say that it brought me any great insights or generated any warm fuzzies about the book. I’m just as confused as the first time I read it.

At the same time for some reason this morning during my worship time I wanted a clear view of who God was, and I was directed by the Holy Spirit to read the first chapter of Malachi. I think he wanted me to read the whole thing, but I didn’t have the patience. The first chapter was enough to give me a very clear difference of how God is portrayed. Notice I did not say that God was different but that He was portrayed differently.

One of the things I’ve noticed in Revelation is that God sits on the throne, is described in mysterious and strange ways, and at least in the first couple chapters all you hear coming from God Himself is thunder and trumpets. Other people do the talking. Since it is a vision, the talking is full of strange concepts. The world of Revelation 4 is full of strange beast with lots of eyes. Of course there are the parts where these beasts praising God, which can be inspirational, but the rest just kind of makes me want to shake my head.

Malachi, on the other hand is very clear. God speaks in good Hebrew. I of course, read the translation, but what He is saying is very clear. He communicates truth to Malachi. There are no strange beasts or strange concepts, except, of course, the concepts that the people didn’t want to understand.

Revelation conveys the glory, majesty and power of God. It gives that general sense of awe. At least at this point, I’m not getting any specific instruction in how to be better at following Jesus.

But I guess that isn’t the point of the book of Revelation. It is apocalyptic literature. I’ve had that concept explained to me. What I continue to wonder though is what is the point of apocalyptic literature?

homo unius libri