Open Our Eyes, Lord!

Devotional given at Wycliffe Associates for the assembled Translation Team, on Oct 7, 2015.

Patmos, where John saw the beast rising from the sea

I am doing two tasks for Wycliffe at the moment – with my online group we are writing translation notes for 1 Corinthians and we have reached chapter 10. Here this week our group is working on Revelation and we are on chapter 10 there as well. These are two very different books, which leads to my title, with apologies to Tertullian: “What has Corinth to do with Patmos?”

Revelation, as we have seen, is filled with apocalyptic language.[1] When you read through it, you begin to notice that for every bright truth there is a dark parallel.

• You belong to the Great Harlot, or you belong to the Bride of the Lamb;
• you are a citizen of Mystery Babylon or a citizen of the New Jerusalem;
• you have the mark of God on your forehead or the mark of the beast imprinted on your hand or forehead;
• you follow the Lamb that was slain and later resurrected, or the beast who somehow managed to survive a fatal head wound;
• you are a victim of the Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse, or redeemed by the one who comes riding on his white horse, the Word of God who is called Faithful and True;
• you are invited to the wedding banquet of the lamb, or you yourself will be a banquet for the vultures;
• you will use your tongue to repent, or your will chew your tongue in agony.

We could mention a dozen more parallels, what are technically known as “literary foils.”

So, in Revelation, for every question, there are only two answers: the right one and the wrong one. Everything is cast in terms of black and white.

1 Corinthians is the other book where I am helping to write Translation Notes, and it is a very contrasting document! It is a different genre, of course, and that changes the style of writing, but it also has a different audience.

In Corinth, some of the believers can only think in terms of black and white. (more…)