Many years ago in Liverpool a little man called Billy used to walk up and down the streets with a placard on his back. It usually had a quotation on it like “The end of the world is nigh” or “Repent and believe in the Gospel”. He would often stop people in the street and say to them “Do you know Jesus because if you don’t…” He got varied responses some positive and some negative. Forty years later and with Billy long since gone to his eternal reward we’re still waiting for the end that he prophesied about. Throughout Christian tradition there have always been at least two ways of understanding what God is doing and there’s a sense in which they’ve both co-existed. One is the incarnational tradition and the other the redemptive tradition. I’m told that the place of peace is the creative tension in the middle, where God is recognised as both redemptive and incarnational.

Incarnational understanding emphasises the presence of God within humanity and it appreciates values like growth and process. Its strength can be found in the way in which it reflects the divine within humanity and the invitation it gives to grow as people. Its weakness is that we can take God for granted and become humanists where growing into the person we’re supposed to be and being nice is enough. The Redemptive tradition is all about intervention and breakthrough. It loves the spectacular. Easter is the redemptive Christ forever breaking into history. Redemptive understanding always looks for God to break in. It allows God to be the God of surprises. That’s its strength. Its weakness is that it does not appreciate the ordinary. It can miss the God of the present moment because of its preoccupation with the spectacular.

The God who intervenes

The book of Revelation understands God as a God who intervenes. It’s written in a literary style, which was not meant to be taken literally. It’s apocalyptic writing that was created to comfort people who saw that the world as they knew it was falling apart and to point them towards a future built in God. The early Christians were being persecuted by Rome. They needed to know that God was on their side and was doing something bigger with the world than they could see. Revelation was to give them consolation. Like all apocalyptic writing it is anti establishment written in code and symbol. It’s an invitation to wait for God to create something new and it always invites the reader to trust God more than the systems of the day whether they be social, financial, political or religious. Every time our security is shaken we’re called to conversion. Every time our little worlds and kingdoms fall apart we’re called to trust in God in a new and deeper way in preparation for the new heaven and the new earth where every promise is fulfilled. The book of Revelation doesn’t attempt to predict the future. It reminds us that there is a bigger picture than just what we see around us. It reminds us that as Christians we can stand back and name what is happening without damaging our self-interest because we have nothing to protect. Our trust lies in the presence of God who is always making things new.

World teetering on the edge of crisis

Why write about the book of revelation at this time? I think it’s because we live in a world teetering on the edge of crisis. In the West our financial systems are crumbling. International wars, civil unrest, the threat of terrorism, the drug scene, escalating crime, these and countless other realities can make us feel that the Beast of revelation is rampant and winning the battle. But the Lamb has won the victory. There is a bigger picture and we are called to remind the world of this truth. God can be trusted and has a plan for this world. The kingdom with its values is the most important reality that there is. Give your life for it revelation tells us. Don’t get compromised and yet we do.

We’re so invested in the systems of this world that we forget the urgency to keep “watching,” and remaining alert and trying to help the world see that God and God alone is to be trusted. Our own fear of what is around us stops us reading the signs of the times and proclaiming the good news. The ultimate message of Revelation for today is about living the gospel in the world, transforming family, economic, political life, and the environment.

As we reflect on the issues all around us let’s not lose heart and think that the battle is lost. The victory has been won. Easter tells us that God can be trusted and that yes all will pass away but it will be transformed and made new in the power of God.

Fr Chris Thomas heads up the Irenaeus Project. He is a member of the Emmaus Family of Prayer and a priest of the Liverpool Diocese.