The Challenge of the books of Hebrews and Revelation

 

The two most difficult books of the New Testament to teach, and for the typical Christian to read (at least in the West), are Hebrews and Revelation. Why is this?

 

One reason, common to both, is that they portray the depth of the Law, the Prophets, and the Writings (what we term the Old Testament); they breathe the Old Testament. To hear Hebrews and Revelation taught as they should be, and to read them as they are to be read, to teach them as they should be taught in Christ – requires (with pedagogical acknowledgement to 1 Corinthians Chapter 2 – for Christ will speak what He will speak and teach what He will teach) that the Old Testament seep through the pores of our skin.

 

To teach Hebrews and Revelation without the teacher being at home in the Old Testament is akin to describing the Grand Canyon to others as pseudo tour guides, when our knowledge of the Grand Canyon is from videos and photos, not from actually visiting this natural wonder of the world. The difference between someone who has been to the Grand Canyon and someone who has not, is that if you have been to the Grand Canyon you have had your breath taken away. Frankly, if our breath has not been taken away by the Law, the Prophets, and the Writings we probably ought not to teach either Hebrews or Revelation; unless we purpose to teach them in deep humility, looking for Christ every step of the way, learning the Law, Prophets, and Writings as we go. (Of course, we ought to be teaching in deep humility and looking for Christ always).

 

There is another hurdle in teaching Revelation, one I find almost insurmountable, and that are the popular misconceptions surrounding this letter to seven churches (let’s remember, Revelation is a letter). If we are looking for things other than Christ, then we will not see Christ. If we don’t remember that this is a letter sent by Christ to encourage and warn His People in the first century, then we will not “see” its immediate - historical unveiling of Christ, its telescopic unveiling of Christ, and certainly not its present unveiling of Christ. Misconceptions and second-hand knowledge are always a challenge in teaching the Bible, but perhaps nowhere is this as difficult as in teaching Revelation – we would rather go on an amusement park ride than see Jesus Christ, be faithful to Jesus Christ, and testify to Jesus Christ even unto death.

 

But now I come to the point that spurred me to write this little piece, one particular element that makes teaching and reading Hebrews and Revelation especially challenging – the way we read them. When most of us read Hebrews we read about things on earth that are meant to show us heaven, and when we read Revelation we read about things in the heavens that are meant to show us earth.

 

Another way to put this is that when we read Hebrews we are often reading about earthly events that portray heavenly goings on, and when we read Revelation we are reading about images in the heavens that portray dynamics also occurring on earth. If we read Revelation outside its genre of apocalyptic and prophetic imagery, and outside its Christocentric message – centered on the Bridegroom and His Bride – then we create fanciful stories that are similar to the Star Wars movie franchise – we have new releases every year to keep up with current events and attract crowds.

 

If we read Hebrews and get hung up on the earthly Tabernacle, as many Christians do, then we’ll never see that there is a Greater Tabernacle in the heavens and that that is the Tabernacle that we are called to live in. In Hebrews we see generally earthly things transposed upward, in Revelation we generally see things transposed downward. Both of these books can teach us to live in the commerce between heaven and earth, to live in the “already-not yet.” We are called to see beyond what we see, to wear 3-D glasses if you will, to see Christ in the heavens, in the earth, and in the height and breadth and depth and width of the Word of God. (Note that the Christians addressed in Hebrews and Revelation were both experiencing suffering and persecution).

The crescendo of Revelation’s transposition downward is seen in chapters 21 and 22 (though this fulness is anticipated earlier). The transpositional ascent in Hebrews reaches the summit in 9:23 – 24; 10:10, 14, 19 – 22; and 12:18 – 29.

 

Why is it that our pedagogical response to challenges is to dumb things down rather than to challenge Christians to learn, to grow, to labor in the Scriptures? Why have Hebrews and Revelation become closed books to the much of the church?