An Atheist Explores the Bible Part 247: And They All Lived Happily Ever After, in Trump Tower (Revelation 21-22)

Revelation 21-22
And They All Lived Happily Ever After, in Trump Tower.

Welcome to another instalment of An Atheist Explores Sacred Texts (Bible version).

In this series I work my way chapter-by-chapter through the King James Bible, commenting on it from the point of view of the text as literature and mythology.

For more detail, see the introductory post http://bit.ly/2F8f9JT

For the online KJV I use, see here http://bit.ly/2m0zVUP

And now:

 Revelation 21

“And I John saw the holy city, new Jerusalem, coming down from God out of heaven, prepared as a bride adorned for her husband.”

The “bride” of the Lamb, mentioned last time, turns out to be a “New Jerusalem”, which could be interpreted as some kind of allegory; however John is very detailed in describing it as an actual city.

Three gates on each side (which offers the question, why does the city need walls if only good people are allowed to live there and “the fearful, and unbelieving, and the abominable, and murderers, and whoremongers, and sorcerers, and idolaters, and all liars, shall have their part in the lake which burneth with fire and brimstone”?), with walls made of something like jasper, which John describes as “clear as crystal”, except jasper is an opaque red stone.

The twelve gates represent the twelve tribes of Israel, and there are twelve “foundations” representing the apostles, each garnished with a different precious stone. And there’s gold (which John also seems to think is “like unto clear glass”, and its permanently lit “for the glory of God did lighten it”, with no sun, but also no night.

I’ll be honest. It sounds horrible, like some terrible gaudy dictator’s palace. And no night? What if you *like* night-time and looking up at the stars? Is God against that for some reason (I’m not sure why if He created all the stars). I assume this is because if you live in more perilous times without powered lighting the night is a dark and scary time full of thieves and wild animals. But, still. If this is a heavenly place where the bad people aren’t allowed, what’s wrong with a beautiful starry night?

Revelation 22

“Behold, I come quickly: blessed is he that keepeth the sayings of the prophecy of this book.”

After a few more details of the New Jerusalem, including some spring water and some trees, John is told by the Holy Spirit to write the details down and to keep them safe, that anyone who follows commandments can gain access to the city, but not those who don’t; however also “let him that is athirst come. And whosoever will, let him take the water of life freely”, so the offer is there if you want it.

Then there are some admonishments not to add or take away anything from “the words of the prophecy of this book” under threat of dire curses. And it’s true because Jesus says so.

And... that’s it for Revelation. 

And for this Bible readthrough as a whole. I must say that those last few chapters were underwhelming, and also disturbing for the idea of a supposedly loving God full of forgiveness the then go back to His old fire and brimstone ways. It’s almost like somebody told the apostles that the book was okay, but it needed a big special effects action finish, because it really doesn’t follow from what’s gone before in the New Testament.

Jesus promises His followers that they will see “the Kingdom of God”, but we are largely left in suspense as to what that means. Paul, speaking to the Gentiles, makes much of “everlasting life” and “life after death” whereas Peter and John, addressing the Jews, are more about the remission of sins (my guess would be that the idea of a sin offering would resonate more with the Jews than the Gentiles). Not until the latter few epistles, however, are these carrots matched by any kind of stick of punishment, and the stick gets really big in Revelation. My guess would be, particularly based upon the topics of later John and Paul letters, and the first few chapters of Revelation, that various sects were springing up that weren’t doing Christianity the way that the church fathers wanted, so they had to add in a concept of punishment for not doing it properly, above and beyond just not getting the reward of everlasting life and removal of sins (which, one would assume, all the other sects thought they’d get anyway).

Well. I can’t quite believe that’s over. I’m going to revisit one more time for a general overview of my thoughts on the Bible as a whole, and this experience, but until then, peace to you all.