Learning to Love Revelation

This week out at the prison we dipped into the book of Revelation. The topic of the evening was actually 2 Thessalonians, but our discussions about "the man of lawlessness" in Chapter 2 took us on a wild ride from Daniel to Revelation. 

The book of Revelation has become one of my very favorite books in the Bible. Not a lot of people agree. Many people find Revelation bizarre and triggering, too weird and bloody to be of any value. But as I shared with the men out at the unit, I've learned to love Revelation.

I love Revelation because it is a fierce and prophetic criticism of Empire. Revelation is a no holds barred takedown of Rome, and of every Imperial power that has followed in Rome's footsteps. Revelation isn't about "end times" prophecy. Nero is clearly 666 and Babylon, "that great city that rules over the kings of the earth," is clearly the Empire founded on the banks of the Tiber.

And the climax of Revelation is the fall of Babylon in Revelation 18. Three groups of people weep over the fallen city--the kings of the earth, the merchants, and the sea captains. The political and economic order of the world is wholly overthrown. And standing vindicated in the midst of the rubble of Empire are the saints of God.

I love Revelation because it teaches me to not "trust in princes," as it says in the Psalms. Or to put faith in exploitative economic systems. Revelation helps me discern the political and economic wreckage all around me. Revelation tells the truth about the world. Revelation helps me see Babylon, that "demon haunted city," who rules every nation and economy of the world.