BLOG TRAFFIC & THE BOOK OF REVELATION: two things I don’t understand

So I haven’t blogged in a long time — three weeks to be precise. It’s sadly pretty typical for me.

I blog twice a week for months … and then stop. I run three times a week for years … and then stop. I voraciously read the news every day for half a decade … then stop.

I’m an unpredictable guy.

Also unpredictable: my blog traffic. I have slowly but surely built something resembling a respectable audience the last few months, but figured that nearly a month off would wreck that. But when I looked at the statistics today … I’m averaging more views per day than ever before and on pace for a record breaking month. I’m pretty sure this is because of all the pictures I have here. People google image “cancer” and the cancer cell pic I used in a post several months ago shows up.

Basically what I’m saying is that when I DON’T write, more people look at this blog … primarily because most people coming to this blog aren’t looking to read anything. They are just looking for pictures …

 

There are some things I know are wrong, even if I can’t explain why I feel that way. For instance, I know — know from the bottom of my heart — that cockroaches are demons in physical form. Think about it, they thrive in dark and decaying places. They scuttle about all weird-like. They can survive a nuclear holocaust. Something ain’t right … I just can’t prove it.

For years I’ve felt the same way about the book of Revelation … or more accurately, about peoples’ interpretation of it. I read those Left Behind books and hear preachers explain a 7 1/2 year day-by-day timeline of the apocalypse and something inside me goes “this just doesn’t sound right.” But I could never explain why I felt that way. It was just a vague impression that these people were misreading things.

But I recently stumbled* on a book by Richard Bauckham entitled The Theology of the Book of Revelation that has totally put some substance to my theory. I’ll probably write more about this later, but in short Bauckham’s theory (so far) is this: the book of Revelation must be seen through the eyes of the seven very real churches addressed in chapters 1-3. The book, while most certainly an explanation of the end times, is intentionally written in a way they would understand. The heavy symbolism directly references and contrasts the symbolism of the Roman Empire in which they lived, and the book is basically saying “you can either side with Babylon (the enemy of Jesus, and an obvious reference to the pagan practices of Roman cult worship) or you can hold true to Jesus.”

*By which I mean I borrowed it from my genius friend Taylor Ishii

The book then is not so much a chronological, blow-by-blow account, but a heavenly interpretation of these churches current reality … with a futuristic bent. In other words, the writer John is saying “here’s how your world looks from heaven, and here is where things are going. The Empire of Rome is at war with the kingdom of heaven, and Rome will lose. So pick your allegiance accordingly, and for those of you being persecuted, hope is coming.”

Now this is probably an oversimplification on my part — I’m still reading the book — but I find this general interpretation much more compelling than what I was taught growing up. Mostly because it makes Revelation LESS a bizarre code to unlock, and more a look at how the Church (both the seven churches specifically and the Church Universal) must continue to remember which Kingdom they truly serve.

And THAT is something that most definitely will preach today.