We’re building up to Revelation 11, arguably the most puzzling chapter in the Bible.
Chapter 11 will reveal the contents of the scroll which we first encountered in the right hand of God in chapter 5. This scroll contains the divine plan for establishing God’s kingdom over all the earth. Jesus alone is worthy to open the scroll because he has already – by virtue of his faithful witness unto death & resurrection – won the comprehensive victory over evil. But the decisive victory achieved by Jesus must still be implemented. Only then will “the kingdom of the world” become “the kingdom of our Lord and of his Messiah.”
The slaughtered lamb proceeds to break the seals which enclose the scroll. The seals begin to unveil God’s judgments. These are not total judgments intended to completely annihilate evil. Rather, they are partial judgments affecting only 1/4 of creation. They’re warnings, meant to bring sinful humanity to repentance and proper allegiance to God.
The seventh seal contains within itself another series – the seven trumpets. The trumpet blasts herald further judgments, more severe than the seals, but still involving only 1/3 of the cosmos. Again, these judgments are a manifestation of God’s patience & mercy. He does not intend to establish his kingdom simply by wiping out those who oppose him. Rather, as the Apostle Peter writes, “[God] is patient with you, not wanting anyone to perish, but everyone to come to repentance.”
In Revelation 10, we witnessed the strange scene of the seven thunders. Based on the previous pattern, we would expect the thunders to announce another series of judgments, this time affecting 1/2 of creation. But instead, the judgments are revoked, not because God’s patience has run out, but because humanity has failed to respond to judgments alone. In lieu of further judgments, the contents of the scroll will be revealed.
After breaking the seals, Jesus entrusts the open scroll to the “mighty angel” who carries it from heaven to earth. This mighty angel bestrides land and sea. He “raised his right hand toward heaven and swore an oath by the One who lives forever and ever, who made heaven and what it contains, the earth and what it contains and the sea and what it contains. This was the oath: that there would be no more delay, but that God’s mystery would be completed in the days of the voice of the seventh angel who was going to blow his trumpet. That is what he had announced to his servants the prophets.”
The angel makes a solemn oath that “God’s mystery would be completed” at the sound of the seventh trumpet. What exactly is this mystery?
In order to answer this question, we should note the context. The passage highlights God’s creative power. According to John’s cosmic geography, the creation consists of three parts: heaven, earth & sea. (In some situations, a fourth part is added: “rivers and streams of water.”) By mentioning all three, John emphasizes that God is the maker of all things and that he intends to reclaim his authority over all things.
Far too many Christians read Revelation as a book which describes “the end of the world.” They’ve embraced a very pessimistic view whereby things will basically get worse and worse. Human society will descend into utter depravity & wickedness. The earth will go spinning off into madness. God will finally bring down the curtain by destroying the universe in a great fiery conflagration. Fortunately, God’s people will be spared by being whisked away from all this carnage.
As we shall see, this perspective has serious flaws.
The Bible begins with the magnificent story of God’s creation. Each day concludes with the refrain, “And God saw that it was good.” On the sixth day, following the creation and commissioning of humankind, the narrative adds: “God saw all that he had made, and it was very good.”
The goodness of creation is central to the Jewish & Christian worldviews. So too is the fundamental purpose of humans: to govern God’s creation wisely so that the world can flourish as a place of beauty, abundance, joy, justice, peace & life.
Far too many Christians regard the created order (& our task to govern it wisely) as merely a temporary waystation on the road to our eternal home in some otherworldly realm. This view severely distorts our theology. It causes us to misunderstand God, his plan of salvation and our role in the divine purpose.
Read correctly, Revelation is a wonderful place to recover the true Biblical vision of God’s grand plan: the redemption of the entire cosmos. Of course, this includes the redemption of human beings, whose dominion over the world will be re-affirmed. John has already stated this explicitly in Revelation 5:9-10, the song which extols the work of the lamb: “You purchased a people for God, from every tribe & tongue & people & nation, and made them a kingdom and priests to our God, and they will reign on the earth.”
Earlier in the same vision, John saw the people of God gathered around his throne worshiping him. They cry out: “O Lord our God, you deserve to receive glory & honor & power, because you created all things; because of your will they existed and were created.” (4:11) We ought to reflect upon these remarkable words. God’s work in creation is the fundamental reason why He is worthy to receive our worship.
These passages would be very odd indeed if Revelation was a book about how God’s people get plucked away from a world doomed to destruction. But they perfectly fit the true theme of Revelation: the coming of God’s kingdom to earth.
In Revelation 4, John is shown a dazzling vision of Almighty God seated upon his throne in heaven, the sphere of ultimate reality. The throne symbolizes God’s sovereignty over all things. In the intervening pages, we see disturbing visions of how God’s reign is contested by the forces of darkness: the dragon and his foul agents.
But crucially, John’s final vision portrays the holy city, the new Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven, from God. (21:2,10) The new Jerusalem is a symbol of the renewed creation, now cleansed from evil, suffering and death. The city which descends from heaven to earth contains “the throne of God and of the lamb.” (22:3) And once more, we find that God’s people will share in his reign over the redeemed world. (22:5) In other words, the central action of Revelation depicts the throne of God moving from heaven to earth.
God’s mystery, then, is the divine plan to establish his kingdom over all creation. John declares that this mystery had already been “announced to his servants the prophets.” This refers to all the Old Testament prophets, but this passage contains specific allusions to the book of Daniel.
Particularly important is Daniel 7, the prophet’s vision of the beasts which represent the wicked, idolatrous empires of rebellious humanity. In Daniel’s dream, God (“the Ancient of Days”) passes judgment upon the beasts and destroys them. Their sovereignty is then given to “one like a son of man,” whose kingdom and dominion will never end.
(Of course, Jesus frequently used “the son of man” as a reference to himself as God’s Messiah. But in Daniel 7, the son of man also serves as a corporate symbol for all God’s people – “the saints of the Most High.”)
But Daniel also pronounces a solemn warning that before the last beast is destroyed, God’s people will suffer at his hands. “As I watched, this horn [of the beast] was waging war against the saints and defeating them.” “[The horn of the beast] will speak against the Most High and oppress his saints…The saints will be handed over to him for a time, times and half a time.”
In sum, God’s mystery involves his plan to establish his kingdom over all creation. He will destroy the evil forces that have usurped his authority and transfer their sovereignty to “one like a son of man” and “the saints of the Most High.” But before that happens, the people of God must endure a time of suffering at the hands of the beast.
Yet even this does not completely explain the meaning of “God’s mystery.” God has yet to unveil a crucial aspect of his plan. This final piece of the puzzle will be made known to John through the contents of the scroll.
