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by Dr. Gregg Pippin
“Behold, I stand at the door and knock. If anyone hears My voice and opens the door, I will come in to him and dine with him, and he with Me … After these things I looked, and behold, a door standing open in heaven …” Rev. 3:20, 4:1
The Book of Revelation. The name conjures up images of angels and demons, judgment and warfare, Armageddon and Mt. Zion, Heaven and Hell. Hollywood has made millions on movies inspired by the number of the beast and the seven seals, and novels about the Rapture are now bestsellers. Yet most Christians remain utterly confused as to the book’s true meaning. The Greek word apokalypsis literally means “unveiling”. So just what is it that St. John has unveiled for us?
St. John’s Apocalypse begins with Christ appearing to the beloved disciple and instructing him to write letters to seven churches under his authority. The Lord is clothed in a full length robe and golden girdle. He is standing in the midst of seven lampstands. (Rev. 1:13) Furthermore, we are told that it is the Lord’s Day and that St. John was “in the Spirit.” (Rev. 1:10) This provides our first clue as to the book’s meaning. Christ’s garments are those of the Jewish High Priest. The lampstands are the menorahs located in the sanctuary of the Jerusalem Temple. It was the duty of the priests to tend to them. So John is seeing the Lord perform liturgical duties on a Sunday. The fact that he is “in the Spirit” is clearly a reference to worship. Recall Jesus’ words to the woman at the well in the Gospel of John about worship “in Spirit and truth”. Sunday, worship, priests, vestments, liturgical functions. This should be beginning to sound familiar.
We have probably all seen the famous painting of Christ knocking on the door of a stone house. This image is taken from the conclusion of the letter to the seventh church, Laodicea. In this painting, there is no doorknob on the outside. This illustrates that we must open our hearts to Christ from within, and this verse is commonly used to demonstrate our need to accept Jesus as our Savior; however, we are about to see that there is much more to this invitation, for St. John next sees an open door in heaven. He is called to “Come up” (Rev. 4:1), and beyond this door he finds the Cherubim and the twenty-four elders praying … the Eucharistic Anaphora.
John ascends into heaven and sees “ten thousand times ten thousand” praising God unceasingly, singing “Holy, Holy, Holy,” giving thanks (in Greek, eucharisteo), glory, honor, and blessing to the Lamb who was slain. (Rev. 4:8-9, 5:11-13) We too are given an invitation to ascend into the heavenly places. Father invites us every Sunday. We call it the Sursum
Corda.
“Lift up your hearts.”
“We lift them up unto the Lord”
“Let us give thanks unto our Lord God.”
“It is meet and right so
to do.”
“It is very meet, right,
and our bounden duty that we should at
all times, and in all places, give
thanks unto Thee, O Lord, Holy Father, Almighty, everlasting God ...
Therefore, with Angels and
Archangels, and with all the company of heaven, we laud and magnify
Thy glorious Name, evermore
praising Thee, and saying, Holy,
Holy, Holy, Lord God of hosts, heaven and earth are full of Thy glory:
Glory be to Thee, O Lord Most High. Blessed
is He that cometh in the Name of the Lord.
Hosannah in the highest.”
“All glory be to Thee, Almighty God, our heavenly Father, for that Thou,
of Thy tender mercy, didst give Thine
only Son Jesus Christ to suffer death upon the Cross for our
redemption …” (The Divine Liturgy of St. Tikhon)
Perhaps now we begin to understand Jesus’ words about worshipping “in Spirit and truth.” Worship in truth refers to Christ who is “the Truth.” When St. John enters heaven, he says, “Immediately I was in the Spirit.” Thus, worship “in Spirit” is joining the heavenly throng around God’s throne to sing the Eucharistic hymn. We do this at every Divine Liturgy.
As John’s vision continues, he sees a scroll in God’s hand. It is sealed with the famous seven seals. Initially, no one is able to open the scroll, but then “Behold, in the midst of the throne and of the four living creatures, and in the midst of the elders (Greek, presbyteroi = priests), stood a Lamb as though it had been slain…” (Rev. 5:6) The scroll represents the Old Testament. It is sealed because the true meaning of the Scriptures was hidden from the people of Israel. Christ alone can open these seals and reveal the true meaning of the scroll because it is of Him that the Law and the Prophets testify. All Scripture finds its true meaning and fulfillment in Christ.
When the Lamb takes the scroll, the angels and elders “sang a new song…” (Rev. 5:9) We encounter this “new song” again in conjunction with the 144,000 on Mt. Zion. They are dressed in white robes and bear the Lamb’s seal on their foreheads. (Rev. 14:1-3) The white robes signify righteousness and the Sacrament of Holy Baptism. We still place white garments on the newly baptized. God’s sign on the forehead is an image taken from the prophet Ezekiel. (Ez. 9:4-6) The word for sign is the Hebrew word “taw”. It is written with a single character, which transliterates to the letter “T”. It is the sign of the cross. Hence, the Lamb’s seal is conferred upon each of us at our chrismation; therefore, the 144,000 represent baptized Christians.
This “new song” they sing is not just any song. In fact, this word for song is used only twice in the New Testament outside of The Apocalypse. It is the Greek word “ode.” Webster defines an ode as a poem set to music to be sung or chanted by a chorus, characterized by nobility of sentiment and dignity of style (paraphrased). There is evidence that “singing an ode” was Christian parlance for the Eucharistic hymn, for the other two instances of this word in the New Testament are linked to the word “eucharisteo” in St. Paul’s writings. (Eph. 5:18-20, Col: 3:16-17) Let me quote from Ephesians: “Do not be drunk with wine, in which is dissipation, but be filled with the Spirit, speaking to one another in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs (Greek, ode), singing and making melody to the Lord, giving thanks (Greek, eucharisteo)…” Here we again see the relationship between spiritual worship and the Eucharist.
We also see this link between “a new song” and thanksgiving in the Old Testament: “Oh, sing a new song to the Lord…Thanksgiving and beauty are before Him.” (Ps. 96:1, 6 LXX) “O sing unto the Lord a new song…Praise the Lord upon the harp; sing to the harp with a psalm of thanksgiving.” (Ps. 98:1, 6 Coverdale Psalter)
Furthermore, St. John calls this song “the song of Moses…and the song of the Lamb.” (Rev. 15:3) The Song of Moses (Ex. 15:1-8) celebrates Israel’s deliverance at the Red Sea. This should remind us of the Passover and the Exodus, which serves as a type of the New Passover (Holy Pascha) and the New Exodus of God’s people, not into the earthly Promised Land, but into the Promised Land of the New Jerusalem which descends from heaven and is the Bride of the Lamb, the Church. (Rev. 21:2, 9-10) Just as the Old Covenant had a Feast of the Passover, so the New Covenant has a New Passover Feast. Just as the Old Covenant Passover lamb was sacrificed and eaten, so is the New. “Christ our Passover was sacrificed for us. Therefore, let us keep the feast…” (I Cor. 5: 7-8) In fact, this New Passover Lamb is the central figure in the book of Revelation, mentioned twenty-seven times in twenty-two chapters.
This finally brings us to the culmination of St. John’s Apocalypse, the marriage supper of the Lamb. (Rev. 19:7-9) It shouldn’t surprise us that the fulfillment of God’s eternal plan is a wedding feast. How often did Our Lord liken the kingdom of heaven to a banquet in His parables? And this brings us back to the title, the Apocalypse, “the unveiling.” In a Jewish wedding, at the moment just before the marriage was consummated, the bridegroom would lift the veil from his bride’s face. This was called “the unveiling,” the Apocalypse. “And the two shall become one flesh.” (Gen. 2:24) Likewise, we are the bride of Christ, His body. By partaking of His flesh, we are “made one body with Him, that He may dwell in us, and we in Him.” (The Canon of the Mass, The Divine Liturgy of St. Tikhon). This truth is so important that it is repeated in the Prayer of Humble Access immediately before the Elevation of the Host and Holy Communion.
“Blessed are those who are called to the marriage supper of the Lamb.” (Rev. 19:9) For here God’s plan for eternity is fulfilled. Here the Lamb sits enthroned in the heavenly tabernacle, patiently awaiting an intimate union with His bride, surrounded by angels, priests, and apostles, endlessly singing a new song of thanksgiving. Now it is our turn to enter into the Spirit, to peer through Heaven’s open door, to see angels, priests, and apostles gathered around the altar, and to “Behold the Lamb of God. Behold Him that takest away the sins of the world.”
Dr. Pippin and his family belong to the St. Peter Antiochian Orthodox
Church.
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