“I have to draw a flower. Will you show me how?” asked four-year-old Nicole expectantly with paper and pencil in hand.
“Why do you want to draw a flower?” her mother asked.
The brown eyes, wide and serious, lifted to meet her mother's. After a pause, Nicole repeated the same words, “I have to draw a flower. Will you show me how?”
“Oh, you have to draw a flower. Why do you have to draw a flower?”
Another pause. Another puzzled look out of big brown eyes. Another patient statement, “I have to draw a flower. Will you show me how?”
I never heard why she had to draw a flower. I don't think she found the words that day to answer that question to her satisfaction.
Sometimes I feel like Nicole when people ask me why I teach the book of Revelation. There is usually a pause during which I puzzle about how to explain all I feel and know. Then often I simply say, “I just have to. I've known this since I was twelve years old.”
Recently I did direct some effort toward summarizing the reasons why I promote and teach the book of Revelation.
Perhaps my answers will inspire someone with renewed insight and energy regarding the book of Revelation.
Perhaps my grappling with the question will encourage others to grapple honestly with questions like “What is it you have to do in life?”
I promote and teach the book of Revelation because . . .
1. I find here an open door and invitation to the other parts of the Bible, all connected.
2. I get amazing pictures of God’s character here, and I believe I’m being changed by what I see.
3. I gain awareness here of the opposite of God’s character, as well as the ability to avoid its control through fear, shame, or obligation.
4. I receive healing and joy from noticing here the structural beauty, the highly organized symmetry and intereconnectedness, comparable to what I see in a plant or insect or solar system, or in Johann Sebastian Bach’s “Goldberg Variations,” or in Ludwig van Beethoven's "Ninth Symphony," or in Leonardo da Vinci's "Last Supper," or in a poem called “Pearl” written by an anonymous poet in the Middle English period (1000-1500).
5. I find hope here that one day I will really understand what life was all about.
6. I experience while reading the feelings that would come with really understanding my life, as if immersion in the very sounds and structures of the book evokes the energy of those feelings.
7. I receive joy in obedience, as if Christ’s command to go and preach the Gospel were imprinted as a crying need on my very bones and cells.
8. I get reminded here of my appointment with the risen Christ, which I tend to forget as did the disciples after the crucifixion.
9. I do indeed receive the promised blessing here (Rev 1:3 and 22:7), a daily burning in my soul as I walk with Christ, a daily joy in communion with Him,
10. I believe I am better prepared and more advantageously placed for what is coming on this world.
11. I discover here peace and power for the oppressed in today's world.
12. I want all the above not only for myself but also for my friends and students.
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