What If We’ve Been Reading Revelation All Wrong?

The Apocalypse as a Repeating Pattern, Not a Timeline

What If We’ve Been Reading Revelation All Wrong?

The Apocalypse as a Repeating Pattern, Not a Timeline

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I Used to Be Afraid of Revelation

When I pastored my first church, we had several end-times prophecy fans, you know the ones. People who were hooked on John Hagee, Jack Van Impe, Perry Stone. We brought in revival speakers with elaborate charts and countdowns to the end of the world.

I assumed this was the only way to read Revelation: the Rapture, the Tribulation, the Left Behind formula.

To be honest, I hadn’t read any commentaries because the TV preachers already had it all figured out.

But over the past 25 years, I’ve encountered Revelation through new lenses, scholars, pastors, and the stories of people who’ve suffered under empire. And what I’ve discovered is that the so-called “Left Behind” version is mostly an American evangelical invention, not the historic or global consensus of the Church.

N.T. Wright has consistently argued that the American obsession with ‘rapture’ theology has no basis in Scripture and should be left behind.

“The Rapture is a racket. Whether prescribing a violent script for Israel or survivalism in the United States, this theology distorts God’s vision for the world. In place of healing, the Rapture proclaims escape. In place of Jesus’ blessing of peacemakers, the Rapture voyeuristically glorifies violence and war. In place of Revelation’s vision of the Lamb’s vulnerable self-giving love, the Rapture celebrates the lion-like wrath of the Lamb. This theology is not biblical. We are not Raptured off the earth, nor is God. No, God has come to live in the world through Jesus. God created the world, God loves the world, and God will never leave the world behind!” Barbara Rossing

God will never leave the world behind.

So if Revelation is
Not about the rapture,
Not about glorifying war,
Not about escape,
Then what is Revelation about?

Revelation is not a roadmap to escape.
Revelation is a mirror.
Revelation is a warning.

Revelation of how the world works when empire is in charge,
And how the Lamb shows us another way.

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A Story Told Seven Times

What if the book of Revelation isn’t meant to be read like a movie with a clear beginning, middle, and end?

What if it’s not a countdown of final events…
Not a chronological timeline of doom…
But something more mysterious, and more pastoral?

According to scholar David Barr,
Revelation doesn’t unfold in a straight line.
It’s more like a spiral, or a wheel.

Seven times, we’re taken through the story of empire, resistance, judgment, and renewal.

• The Letters to the Churches (1–3)

• The Scroll and the Seals (4–7)

• The Trumpets (8–11)

• The Woman, the Dragon, and the Beasts (12–14)

• The Bowls of Wrath (15–16)

• The Fall of Babylon (17–19)

• The New Creation (20–22)

“Rather than a continuous story line, Revelation presents a series of visions—each with its own plot and characters—telling and retelling the story of God’s judgment and salvation.” David L. Barr

Each vision peels back the curtain on empire’s illusion. And each reminds us that despite all appearances, the Lamb is still on the throne.

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Christ Is the Center of Every Cycle

In every retelling, at the center is:
Not a lion.
Not a warrior.

It’s a Lamb.
Slain, yet standing.

“The lion has become a lamb… and the victory has been won through his suffering and death.” N.T. Wright

This isn’t about vengeance.
It’s about sacrificial love.

Paul puts it this way:

“He disarmed the rulers and authorities and made a public example of them, triumphing over them by the cross.” Colossians 2:15

Even when Jesus appears on a white horse in Revelation 19, his robe is already dipped in blood before the battle begins (Revelation 19:13). This is not the blood of his enemies, it’s his own. The Lamb who was slain rides into battle having already won through the cross.

Over and over again, Revelation insists that Christ’s victory comes not by shedding the blood of others, but by offering his own. The Lamb conquers through crucifixion and resurrection, not through retaliation.

That’s the heart of Revelation:

Not that the empire gets overthrown by a bigger empire,
But that its violence collapses in on itself.

Babylon always destroys Babylon.
And yet the Lamb still stands.

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Revelation is the End of the Illusion

We’re not watching a horror movie unfold.
We’re living in it.

Revelation doesn’t predict the future,
It reveals the present.

It’s apocalyptic in the truest sense:
It unveils the truth of empire
And invites us to resist.

“The visions in Revelation are not a secret calendar of end-times events, but multiple retellings of the conflict between empire and God, each calling the church to perseverance and faithful witness.” Michael J. Gorman

The Story of the Cross,
Inspiring perseverance and resistance through
Uncivil worship and faithful witness.

“The empire destroys itself with the very tools it uses to dominate. The Lamb doesn’t conquer Babylon; Babylon collapses in on itself.” Jeremy Duncan

If that’s true, then Revelation is not the end of the world.
Revelation is the end of the illusion.

• The end of imagining Caesar is in control.

• The end of pretending violence will save us.

• The end of looking away from our own complicity.

And maybe, just maybe,
It’s the beginning of seeing the Lamb.

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What Comes Next

Over the coming weeks,
We’ll explore each of these seven cycles.

We’ll look at the dragons and beasts and bowls,
But with the cross always in view.
And we’ll keep asking:

• Where is Babylon still at work today?

• How do we resist empire without becoming beasts ourselves?

• And what does it really mean to follow the Lamb?

Because this book isn’t about escaping to heaven.

It’s about learning how to stand.

In love.
In hope.
Together.
Even now.

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