WITHOUT a doubt, the Book of Revelation is one of the most controversial in all of Sacred Scripture. On one end of the spectrum are fundamentalists who take every word literally or out of context. On the other are those who believe the book has already been fulfilled in the first century or who ascribe to the book a merely allegorical interpretation.
But what about future times, our times? Does Revelation have anything to say? Unfortunately, there is a modern tendency among many clergy and theologians to relegate discussion of the prophetic aspects of the Apocalypse to the loony bin, or simply dismiss the notion of comparing our times to these prophecies as dangerous, too complicated, or altogether misguided.
There’s only one problem with that stance, however. It flies in the face of the living Tradition of the Catholic Church and the very words of the Magisterium itself.
One might wonder why there is such a hesitation to reflect upon the more obvious prophetic passages of Revelation. I believe it has to do with a general crisis of faith in God’s Word.
There are two major crises in our times when it comes to sacred Scripture. One is that Catholics don’t read and pray with the bible enough. The other is that the Scriptures have been sterilized, dissected, and diffused by modern exegesis as merely a historical piece of literature rather than the living Word of God. This mechanical approach is one of the defining crises of our time, for it has paved the way for heresy, modernism, and irreverence; it has smothered mysticism, misguided seminarians, and in some if not many cases, shipwrecked the faith of the faithful—clergy and laymen alike. If God is no longer the Lord of miracles, of charisms, of Sacraments, of new Pentecosts and spiritual gifts that renew and build up the Body of Christ… what is He the God of exactly? Intellectual discourse and impotent liturgy?
One young priest recounted to me how the seminary he attended had so dismantled Scripture that it left the impression that God did not exist. He said many of his friends who did not have his previous formation entered the seminary excited about becoming saints… but after formation, they were completely stripped of their zeal by the modernist heresies they were taught… yet, they became priests. If the shepherds are myopic, what happens to the sheep?
What does this have to do with the Book of Revelation and a present-day interpretation of its prophetic vision? We cannot view Revelation as merely a historical text. It is the living Word of God. It speaks to us on many levels. But one, as we will see, is the prophetic aspect for today—a level of interpretation strangely rejected by many Scripture scholars.
But not by the popes.
Ironically, it was Pope Paul VI who used a passage from St. John’s prophetic vision to describe, in part, this very crisis of faith in the Word of God.
…the seven stars are the angels of the seven churches. (Rev 1:20).
The most likely interpretation given by biblical scholars is that these angels or stars represent the bishops or pastors presiding over the seven Christian communities. Thus, Paul VI is referring to apostasy within the ranks of the clergy who are “swept away.” And, as we read in 2 Thess 2, the apostasy precedes and accompanies the “lawless one” or Antichrist whom the Church Fathers also referred to as the “beast” in Revelation 13.
John Paul II also made a direct comparison of our times to the twelfth chapter of Revelation by drawing a parallel to the battle between the culture of life and the culture of death.
Benedict XVI also interprets “Babylon” in Revelation 19, not as a bygone entity, but as referring to corrupt cities, including those of our times. This corruption, this “worldliness”—an obsession with pleasure— he says, is leading humanity toward slavery.
The answer, of course, is that ancient serpent, the devil. But we read in John’s Apocalypse that the devil gives his “power and his throne and his great authority” to a “beast” that rises out of the sea.
Now, often in historical-critical exegesis, a narrow interpretation is given to this text as referring to Nero or some other early persecutor, thereby suggesting that St. John’s “beast” has already come and gone. However, that is not the strict view of the Church Fathers.
The Apocalypse speaks about God’s antagonist, the beast. This animal does not have a name, but a number . In [the horror of the concentration camps], they cancel faces and history, transforming man into a number, reducing him to a cog in an enormous machine. Man is no more than a function.
In our days, we should not forget that they prefigured the destiny of a world that runs the risk of adopting the same structure of the concentration camps, if the universal law of the machine is accepted. The machines that have been constructed impose the same law. According to this logic, man must be interpreted by a computer and this is only possible if translated into numbers.
It is clear, then, that applying the Book of Revelation to our time is not only fair game, but consistent among the pontiffs.
Of course, the Early Church Fathers did not hesitate to interpret the Book of Revelation as a glimpse into future events (see Rethinking the End Times). They taught, according to the living Tradition of the Church, that Chapter 20 of Revelation is a future event in the life of the Church, a symbolic period of a “thousand years” in which, after the beast is destroyed, Christ will reign in His saints in a “period of peace.” In fact, the overwhelming body of modern prophetic revelation speaks precisely of a coming renewal in the Church preceded by great tribulations, including an antichrist. They are a mirror image of the early Church Fathers’ teachings and prophetic words of modern popes (Is Jesus Really Coming?). Our Lord Himself hints that the coming tribulations of the end times does not, therefore, mean that the end of the world is imminent.
ISN’T REVELATION JUST A DIVINE LITURGY?
It has been pointed out by several Scripture scholars, from Dr. Scott Hahn to Cardinal Thomas Collins, that the Book of Revelation parallels the Liturgy. From the “Penitential Rite” in the opening chapters to the Liturgy of the Word through the opening of the scroll in Chapter 6; the offertory prayers (8:4); the “great Amen” (7:12); the use of incense (8:3); the candelabra or lampstands (1:20), and so forth. So is this in contradiction to a future eschatological interpretation of Revelation?
On the contrary, it completely supports it. In fact, St. John’s Revelation is a deliberate parallel to the Liturgy, which is the living memorial of the Passion, Death and Resurrection of the Lord. The Church herself teaches that, as the Head went forth, so too will the Body pass through her own passion, death, and resurrection.
Only Divine Wisdom could have inspired the Book of Revelation according to the pattern of the Liturgy, while at the same time unfolding the diabolical plans of wickedness against the Bride of Christ and her consequent triumph over evil. Ten years ago, I wrote a series based on this parallel called The Seven Year Trial.
A future interpretation of the Book of Revelation does not, therefore, exclude a historical context. As St. John Paul II said, this battle between the “woman” and that ancient serpent is “a struggle that is to extend through the whole of human history.”cf. Redemptoris Mater, n.11 Most certainly, St. John’s Apocalypse also refers to the tribulations in his day. In the letters to the Churches of Asia (Rev 1-3), Jesus is speaking very specifically to the Christians and Jews of that period. At the same time, the words hold a perennial warning for the Church at all times, especially regarding love grown cold and lukewarm faith. cf. First Love Lost In fact, I was stunned to see the parallel between Pope Francis’ closing remarks to the Synod and Christ’s letters to the seven churches (see The Five Corrections).
The answer is not that the Book of Revelation is either historical or only of the future—rather, it is both. The same can be said of the Old Testament prophets whose words speak of specific local events and historical time frames, and yet, they are written in such a way that they still hold a future fulfillment.
If we are to watch and pray with the Word of God, it must be with the very Church who wrote and thus interprets that Word.
Thus, one can read the Book of Revelation knowing that the future triumph of Christ and His Church and subsequent defeat of Antichrist and Satan are a present and future reality awaiting fulfillment.
First published November 19th, 2010 with updates today.
3. ↑ cf. Dan 12:4; see also Is the Veil Lifting?
Posted in HOME, FAITH AND MORALS and tagged apocalypse, revelation, end times, paul vi, john paul ii, benedict xvi, church, catholic, beast, antichrist, apostasy, scripture, bible, st. john, anti-christ, exegesis.