Dear John...

I imagine that out of all the various authors who contributed to the Bible, when it comes to the length of the queue of people waiting in line with their questions, Paul and John are going to have some of the longest queues. Even other New Testament authors admit that Paul is sometimes difficult to understand, and when it comes to Revelation... I wonder whether John might have two queues: one for 'questions on the gospel and the epistles' and a much longer queue for Revelation.

A couple of days ago I asked what questions you would ask if you could meet John face to face. Yesterday we tried to imagine that situation in church with the arrival of a time travelling John - who may have looked a bit like Father Christmas.

When I tell people that Revelation is one of my favourite books in the Bible they sometimes imagine that I therefore have an idea in my head about all the symbolism and images and can provide them with a time line of events that start now and end with judgement day. But when it comes to a lot of the detail of Revelation I don't have a clue.

But how much of the detail are we supposed to be able to work out - or is it ok to see the big picture and not worry too much about the detail? The big picture of Revelation is surely that Jesus is King (even now) and in the end God wins. Therefore there is an encouragement to persevere through hardship and a challenge not to be on the loosing side.

I also think that the way that Revelation is written means that wherever we live and in whatever age the truths about the world remain relevant. Revelation provides a peep behind the scenes into what is really going on - and what is really going on is that we live in a world that is opposed to God and his people. And this is true in countries where this is obvious (such as N Korea), but also in places where it is less obvious. Places where there is freedom of speech or freedom of religion but where the way things work favour the rich and the powerful rather than those on the margins, those without a voice, the poor...The challenge is then - how do I live as a follower of Jesus, how do I not get sucked into systems and ways of thinking that are opposed to God's values...