Thoughts on Revelation (the Book of)

This past year, my church, Peachtree Road UMC has been reading through the New Testament. We are about to embark on reading the Old Testament in 2014. I have been writing the wrap-ups for Revelation. Here is my final thought on Revelation.

Revelation leaves me with a lot of bigger questions. The biggest one is this: Does hell exist and what does it look like? Most of our imagery is shaped by poetry and Milton's Paradise Lost. I believe that there really is a lake of fire, as we read in Chapter 20, but as I read the chapter, I realize one major thing: It is not my place to judge. That's not my job. I do believe as John Wesley does, as he notes in his sermon On Hell, that hell is the experience of loss. "Hell is the loss of beauty, music, pleasant memories, kindness, loved ones, friendship, love, and most importantly a sense of having been created and loved by God. Hell is also a felt experience; a place of hate, horror, greed, rage, lust, unsatisfied desires, envy, jealousy, malice and revenge, characterized by fear, guilt, and shame" (Wesley Study Bible, note on Hell, pg1556).

We live in a fallen world, full of beauty and pain. Life is short but beautiful. It brings love and the loss of that love brings pain. That is the world we live in. Yet we find ourselves in the midst of God's grace here and now, and we wait for the completion of time in which God will reveal all things and draw all creation into God's self. Until that day, we wait for the New Jerusalem.