A Sacred Silence: How Witholding Words Helped Me Heal

In the past, God used trials to refine both my soul and my art. Regardless of the darkness faced, processing with the Lord birthed poems and words. I often turned to the Psalms, with their patterns of lament, repentance, and praise. So, it shocked me when the pattern shattered, and Psalm 88:18’s final words permeated my every attempt at penning something private or public:

“You have caused my beloved and my friend to shun me; my companions have become darkness.”

As a new believer, I was eager to write down every prayer and thought, hopeful for the future. I went through journals frequently, then enjoyed looking back over the entries to help me reflect on God’s sovereignty and grace. Now my favorite journal now contains entries from 2022, 2023, and 2024 because, despite my desire to fill its pages as I did in the past, the words eluded me.

At some point, watching people vanish from the polaroids within its pages and seeing color fade from the record of my world became too painful. What once felt like a safe place to meditate on the Lord and spend time in prayer suddenly felt unbearable–perhaps melancholy at best.

Trying to push through this in my personal journal was one thing, but wanting to keep producing content in the public sphere was another. At the time, I worked for a seminary, was in conversations about a doctoral degree, and served as an Associate Editor for FTC.co. The expectations I set for myself demanded I keep producing content, but it all sounded… flat.

Unfortunately, something in me was broken. And it did not take long to realize it was different from pain I had encountered before. For the first time, it was ineffable.

At first I was frustrated. Christians throughout history had gone through much harder things and yet glorified God through their writings. Could I not be one of them?

The answer was no; I could not. At least not at that point in my life. I soon discovered that though it still brought joy to serve as an editor or help others share stories of God’s grace, the writing goals I had upheld during the past decade of following Jesus were no longer possible. (Well, they were possible. They were just no longer healthy or helpful.)

So, despite the pain, I would continue to love Jesus. But I would do so in a season of silence.

As the days turned into months without my usual outpouring of written expressions, I discovered a richness in the unspoken dialogue between my soul and its Creator. The silence became the canvas on which God once again brought color to my world with strokes of truth, and I found solace in the simplicity of just being with Him.

This newfound, intentional spiritual discipline led to a realization that I had unintentionally made an idol out of communication. My good desire to cultivate community and encourage others had soured the moment I began prioritizing conversations with friends or processing through a publication above time in the Word. In the hushed moments with Scripture, God gifted a sacred silence that spoke volumes.

Instead of rushing to theologize every emotion and struggle, I started to relearn how to sit in the presence of the One who understands without words. This quiet communion with the Lord rested like a healing balm upon my weary soul. Not every healing requires a public proclamation, and sometimes the deepest work happens in secret places, away from the eyes and ears of the world.

So, here I am, a writer who found healing in not writing but in withholding. Ecclesiastes 3 tells us there is a time for everything, including “a time to keep quiet, and a time to speak” (v. 7). How sweet it is to stop striving and rest in God’s grace for each moment–whether our lips are parted to share truth with others or just to drink it in for ourselves. And though my journal still awaits fresh ink, I know there is a never-ending well of grace still flowing despite the dry pages.



The End of Religious Liberty

Are we seeing the end of religious liberty?

For Christians in America, we see the complexities of cultural engagement. Articulating the truths of biblical Christianity regarding sexuality and gender alone, brings conflict or worse. So, it is good and right to be concerned and wonder if the end of religious liberty is near.

We also wonder and debate how best to respond. We watch and listen to conversations about Christian Nationalism. We consider an upcoming presidential election. All the while, we recognize our society is experiencing more and more what a recent book calls The Great Dechurching.[1]

Are we seeing the end of religious liberty?  Here, in the West, we wonder.

However, in the rest of the world, we are seeing it. Listen to these facts from the recent annual World Watch List Report[2] that lists the 50 Countries where it is hardest to follow Jesus. Last year:

  • Almost 5,000 Christians were killed for their faith
  • Nearly 15,000 churches were attacked or closed
  • More than 295,000 Christians were forcibly displaced from their homes because of their faith

The fact is that for those of us in the Western World who worry about the loss of religious liberty may never go to jail for our faith, but, right now our brothers and sisters are in jail in many countries around the world.

Are we seeing the end of religious liberty?  In the rest of the world, we are.

Religious Liberty as Something Bigger

Given this predicament, one might be tempted to despair. Even so, while the present trends are not good, we should work to prevent the erosion of religious liberty wherever possible. To help with that, I want to offer an adjustment in how we think about the end of religious liberty.

Rather than a single-focused lament about what this means for Christians, I find it a helpful corrective to think of religious liberty as something bigger than just the free exercise of religion in a country or in our country.

For the purpose of religious liberty, ultimately, is not about freedom for Christians. Absolutely it includes that, but it’s purpose, as a doctrine, is so much more.

So, instead of asking, “Is this the end of religious liberty?”, I want to ask, “What is religious liberty?” and then “What is the end of religious liberty?”

What is Religious Liberty?

First, here are a few brief statements to summarize a biblical understanding of what is religious liberty:

  1. Nowhere in the New Testament do we see anyone coercing faith in Jesus Christ. Jesus could have coerced faith, but did not.
  2. Nowhere in the New Testament do we see Christians executing or arresting those who deny faith in Jesus Christ. While on earth, Jesus could have exercised judgment in this way, but did not.
  3. Instead, we see our Lord Jesus, his apostles, and the early churches reasoning, instructing, calling to repentance, and inviting people to believe.
  4. In sum, in the New Testament, Christianity is a faith that does not coerce, but persuades.

This biblical understanding influenced a theological and culture-engaging distinctive for many believers throughout history, and especially the men and women who formed the Baptist Tradition. From the Reformation, to England, to early America, to the present world at large, Baptists have advocated for religious liberty along these two axioms:

  1. The defense of every citizen’s right to pursue what they believe or do not believe only exists when the Church operates independent of the State.

Baptists affirmed that the State should exist and Christians should relate accordingly, but not ultimately (Romans 13, 1 Timothy 2, Acts 5). Baptists understood, from experience, that when the State can determine the validity of or limit the practice of one religion in society, nothing prevents it from turning to another religion or all religions.

  1. The defense of this civil right ensures the proclamation the Gospel for all either to accept or reject freely, without coercion. Further, it prevents the State from using its power intended to ensure civil protection and safety for matters of the soul and Spirit.

Read this summarized so well in the Baptist Faith and Message: “A free church in a free state is the Christian ideal, and this implies the right of free and unhindered access to God on the part of all men, and the right to form and propagate opinions in the sphere of religion without interference by the civil power.”[3]

If this is religious liberty, when, then, will religious liberty come to an end?

When will Religious Liberty end?

The beautiful hymn in Philippians 2 tells of the humbling, sacrifice, and exaltation of Jesus Christ. And, it also tells us when religious liberty will end.

In Philippians 2, we see God has already exalted Christ Jesus and given him the name “Lord.” He has already handed all things over to him (see Matt 11:27), put all things under his feet (Eph 1:22), and given him all authority (Matt 28:18).

Yet, Paul also reveals that a future day is coming when the name of Jesus will go forth and all creatures will bow and confess him as Lord. At this time, which Paul in 1 Corinthians 15:24 calls “the end,” Jesus will finally destroy death and see the complete fulfillment of Psalm 8:6, when all things are put in subjection under his feet (1 Cor 15:23–28).

In Philippians 2:10, Paul references a statement from Isaiah that “every knee shall bow” to God the Father and ties his hymn to the larger and weightier biblical story.

In Isaiah 45, the prophet is crusading against idolatry by defending the uniqueness of the God of Israel. Thus, by ascribing this text to God the Son in Philippians the Bible not only affirms trinitarian equality, it shows that Jesus Christ is not a challenge to the monotheistic God of the Bible. The Father and Son are One. And this One God will one day be exalted once and for all. Until that day, we understand that Christ’s exaltation and the subjection of all to him are both already true and not yet complete.

Only on that day, the time of religious freedom will end. Everyone will bow and acknowledge the one true religion and one true God. The bowing especially conveys this acknowledgment, as the Bible regularly identifies this posture with concession that the one to whom one bows is superior. Further, this day of acknowledgment is universal but not universalism. No one will escape participation, whether repentant or not. Everyone will acknowledge that Jesus is King, whether out of joy or shame.

When we talk of religious liberty in the United States, we acknowledge its present fragility with words like threatened and with calls to “defend” it. And, as I said, to be sure, as long as we have religious liberty, it is worth defending.

However, should believers find their liberties removed or suppressed in the days ahead, we should also recognize that we will not really reach the end of religious liberty until Jesus returns.

Think of our brothers and sisters in North Korea or Yemen. How do they persevere? With no temporal hope for religious liberty, they must rely on an eternal and future hope. For those in Christ, the knowledge of the last day should provide hope that, no matter what trials come or earthly freedoms are diminished, God will make all things new. He will put all things under his feet and declare himself finally triumphant.

This eternal perspective should provide hope, but it should also serve as a sober warning, for the grace God shows by granting any form of religious liberty on earth is finite. At that time, when religious liberty ends, there will be no more hope for the lost.

If that is when religious liberty will see its ultimate end, how are Christians now to think about the purpose of religious liberty as something bigger?

What is “the end” of Religious Liberty?

In Philippians 2:11, Paul says that the universal submission of humanity to the lordship of Christ at the end of time takes place “to the glory of God the Father.”

This is “the end” goal, or bigger purpose, of religious liberty.

What do we mean when we see all things taking place to the glory of God? In part, it is the proclamation that:

  • The reigning King who made the heavens and the earth should receive honor and glory forever and ever (see 1 Tim 1:17).
  • To the one who put forward his Son as a propitiation so that God the Father might be just and the justifier of all those who fall short of the glory of God (Rom 3:21–26) belongs glory and dominion forever and ever (1 Pet 4:11).
  • The one who gave his Spirit as a Helper to teach, convict (John 14:26; 16:8), and send his children as witnesses to the nations (Acts 1:8), to him be glory in the church, throughout all generations, forever and ever (Eph 3:21).

When we can hold onto the glory of God as the reason why religious liberty is worth defending, we can adjust our thinking about what is religious liberty and why it matters. This adjustment allows us to step back and affirm:

  1. Our hope that one day Jesus will be exalted on earth even while suffering continues, whether to us or to our brothers and sisters around the world.
  2. True faith cannot be coerced. The best cultural environment for faith to take root is one where there is religious liberty for all religions.
  3. One day true religious liberty will end and all knees will bow, whether they want to or not.
  4. Until then, the good news that Jesus is Lord is shared, with reasoning and pleading, while there still is time.
  5. It is worth proclaiming Christ even at the risk of security, safety, and rights—all for the glory of God.

This is the end of religious liberty.

 

This article is adapted from Jason G. Duesing’s recent chapel message: “A Portrait of the End of religious liberty,” at Midwestern Seminary and Spurgeon College. You can watch the full message below: https://www.mbts.edu/2024/01/chapel-with-jason-duesing-january-24-2024/

[1] Jim Davis, Michael Graham, and Ryan P. Burge, The Great Dechurching: Who’s Leaving, Why Are They Going, and What Will It Take to Bring them Back? (Zondervan, 2023).

[2] Jayson Casper, “The 50 Countries Where It’s Hardest to Follow Jesus in 2024,” Christianity Today, January 17, 2024, https://www.christianitytoday.com/news/2024/january/christian-persecution-2024-countries-open-doors-watch-list.html

[3] “Article XVII: Religious Liberty,” Baptist Faith and Message, https://bfm.sbc.net/bfm2000/#xvii



Pastoring is Tortoise Work: A Lesson for the Young and Aspiring

Talking with a fellow pastor I know and trust, I recently asked a question. “What’s one quality you believe is indispensable for an effective pastor?” After a moment’s thought, the answer came: patience.

If you aspire to pastoral ministry, you likely envision yourself preaching the Word and rightly administering the sacraments. Perhaps you also envision counseling sessions, praying with those who hurt, and leading the ministries of the church. All good things, no doubt. But have you taken time to consider the kind of patience these things actually require? Have you envisioned yourself learning the hard lesson of being patient and moving slowly? If you would rather not, then one of two things will eventually happen after you enter ministry: you will be crushed or you will change.

When I was in my twenties and aspiring to the pastorate, I gave little to no serious consideration to my need for patience. And on certain days, I find that I can still be this way. Pastors, like most people, struggle with impatience concerning life’s circumstantial ambiguities, those unresolved things we are chagrined to live with. Ministry is so filled with such ambiguities that a pastor must learn what do to with them. As much as I may not like it, pastoring is slow, steady work. It is “tortoise work,” not “hare work.”

Of course, a temptation every pastor faces is that of “making things happen.” According to Zack Eswine, our tendency is to do “large things in famous ways as fast and as efficiently as [we] can.” I’ve found that this very thing is widely incentivized, often marketed to me as the model of ministry success. After all, pastors who are thought to “make stuff happen” are the ones who get book deals and amass high follower counts on social media. Is this the kind of pastor I must be? Experience enough ministry setbacks, though, and that question answers itself. It doesn’t take long for the hoped-for glitz and glamor of pastoring to fade. And you’re left with the reality that much of your pastoral success is measured by something you didn’t expect: capacity for patience amidst the crises, criticisms, controversies, and conflicts that beset congregational life.

As a young man, aspiring to the noble task of pastoring, do you recognize your need to learn patience? Do you see in yourself a tendency to idolize immediacy? Are you frustrated when things don’t happen as quickly as you expect? Consider two observations, both drawn from events described in the book of 1 Samuel.

First observation: bad things almost always come from impatience. The text provides two examples. First, the people of Israel are impatient for a king (1 Samuel 8:4–6, 19–20). Because of their insistence upon being like other nations and the impatience which accompanies such insistence, Israel ends up with Saul, an epic monarchical failure.

Second, once king, Saul acts with haste. At one point, he is impatient for Samuel to arrive in Gilgal. Panicked and unable to wait any longer, he takes matters into his own hands, offering a sacrifice he was not authorized to make (1 Sam. 13:8-14). The divinely ordained expiration date of his kingship is now immanent. Impatience triggers the downfall.

Second observation: better things—the best things, even—tend to come with time. The ark of the covenant remains at Kiriath-jearim for twenty years, at which time the people of Israel are ripe for renewal under Samuel’s leadership (1 Sam. 7:1-4). The absence of the ark, a material emblem of Yahweh’s presence among Israel, becomes felt. They’d had their fill of what the Baals and Ashtaroth had to offer.

So the people began to lament and long for Yahweh’s presence. But to reach this point, it took time. Conditions for spiritual renewal almost always develop gradually. When a widespread return to God takes place, it is often preceded by years of preparation, an extended time of God working patiently in quiet, unseen places. Yahweh is not one to rush the achievement of His purposes. He is satisfied to play the long game.

Ecclesiastes 7:8b thus seems a fitly spoken word for us, whether we aspire to ministry or have already “arrived.” It says, “better is the patient in spirit than the proud in spirit.” The contrast here is striking. Pride is the antithesis of patience. This reveals what lurks beneath impatience—Israel’s, Saul’s, and ours.

Let’s be honest. Much too often “making things happen” is a fruit of nascent pride. The proud in spirit feel they must force a quick fix when faced with prolonged circumstantial ambiguity. They are compulsive and cannot trust God with what they do not understand about His timing. Too self-interested to wait, they attempt to supplant His unhurried work. However, God honors those who wait patiently upon Him. Humility accompanies the learning of this lesson. Ultimately, a pastor does not control his ministry circumstances. And our best efforts to eliminate their ambiguity may well make things worse.

To pastor effectively, then, learn to feel at home in the reality that your circumstances are a matter of divine purview. God makes things happen, and most of the time it is not ours to know the what and the when of his good providence; the secret things belong to Yahweh (Deut. 29:29). He will cause His purposes to prevail at a time of His sovereign choosing. He will bring resolution to life’s ambiguities in accordance with His wisdom. We must not only learn to accept this; we must learn to embrace it with a heart that is quiet and full of trust.

Mark these things well, all who aspire to such a noble task. God’s ways are not our ways. In His always- wise estimation, the best things come with time. Therefore, alongside your study of Scripture, theology, preaching, and ministry methods, befriend patience also. Though often underestimated, it will be your pastoral superpower. Slow and steady wins the race.



The Pornography Pandemic

Pornography is not often talked about in the church, but pornography is often on the minds of many church members. Pornography is a growing pandemic, and it is only getting worse. It is reported that 93% of pastors see it as a much bigger problem than it was in the past.[1] As the Church, we need to ask ourselves, “What are we going to do about it?” It isn’t an “out there” issue, it is an “in here” problem that needs to be confronted with truth and grace for both the addict and the fallout victims it leaves in its wake.

Roughly 200,000 Americans meet the classification of a pornography addict, which equates to roughly 40 million people visiting pornographic sites regularly.[2] With statistics like that, it is easy to see this as a cultural issue. But before we merely label it as a cultural problem, we need to acknowledge that this is also a problem that exists in the Church. It touches our church members. It even touches the leaders of our churches. Barna reports that 21% of youth pastors and 14% of pastors currently struggle with pornography—and those are just the ones admitting to it.[3] As a side note, it isn’t just a male problem, either. One in three pornography users are women.[4] Pornography doesn’t discriminate.

Pornography is unrelenting in its pursuit. Not only does it come for the addict, but the repercussions of this addiction also leave victims in its wake. As a pastor’s wife, I have had more than my fair share of conversations about pornography. My conversations have less to do with the addiction and more to do with the fallout on the other side of the addiction—the spouse of the addict. The spouse feels betrayed and broken by an addiction that isn’t her own, yet she deeply feels the repercussions of it.

Sexual desire and the act of sex was created by God for His glory and without shame within the marriage relationship. Pornography, in contrast, lives in the shadows surrounded by shame, guilt, doubt, and powerlessness. It feeds off anonymity provided by the internet and easy access, with the push of a button. It rewires the brain and short-circuits normal hormonal responses. With repeated exposure, the brain shrinks.[5] There is no drug to push, smoke, drink, or snort, but rather pornography exploits the normal natural functions of the body. The “Father of Lies” entices us to use what God calls good in a way that it was never intended to be used (John 8:44). The truth is that pornography is a lie, and it uses your own body against you.

Pornography is pervasive and as the Church, we must address it, discuss it, and speak truth to the addict and victims. How do we do this? No one article can answer this question, but I seek to suggest a starting point. There are three truths that must be a part of the conversation about pornography.

1. God is bigger than pornography.

If you are an addict, it is difficult to believe that God is bigger than this addiction. It surely doesn’t feel that way if you are a wife, who for the second or third time has caught her husband using pornography. The Bible tells us that we have truth on our side. In Christ, we have overcome this world. Because of our faith in Him, He gives us victory and the desire to do His commandments (1 John 5:1–5). We are more than conquerors, and nothing separates us from the love of God in Christ Jesus (Romans 8:37–39). God has also given us His perfect Holy Spirit who promises to help us in our weakness (Romans 8:26). This Spirit of Truth will guide us into all truth (John 16:13). If we confess our sins, God is faithful and just and will forgive us our sins and purify us completely (1 John 1:9). There is nothing in this world that God can’t overcome. God is bigger than pornography.

2. Pornography is a sinful addiction—treat it like one.

When it comes to pornography, we use words like “issue” or “problem” rather than calling pornography a sin, a highly addictive sin. In February 2023, Covenant Eyes wrote an article on how pornography impacts the brain. The author stated, “The cravings experienced by someone hooked on porn can be like the cravings of a drug addict. The chemical pathways of the brain designed for sexual pleasure are rewired to seek out porn instead of real sex.”[6] Pornography is a natural addiction, which means that although there is no drug to put into your body, the chemical responses of the brain change because of it. We have an enemy whose goal is to keep us addicted and in bondage. Acknowledging this enemy and his lies is the first step to freedom.

3. Community is necessary to overcome this addiction.

The community plays two roles in this addiction-redemption process. The first role is for the addict. Pornography causes shame and regret and causes you to feel powerless. The addiction grows in isolation and multiples when left alone. Your brain may be tattooed with pornography but there is no visual sign that you are a pornography addict. Barna reported that 55% of pastors who struggle with this addiction live in “constant fear of being discovered.”[7] The fear of being found out pushes you deeper into the addiction cycle. Shedding light comes as you invite a safe community into your struggles. If the power that drives pornography is secrecy, then the power that removes it is exposure. The secrets that shackle you are blown up in the light of the Gospel and a community focused on the Gospel! We need discipleship and accountability to move forward.

The second role community plays is support. I have observed the power of the community to embrace those impacted by pornography. Those who are connected to addicts may also feel shame. They need the light of a safe community to understand, embrace, and bear their burdens. It is important to remember, those you invite into the trenches need to be believers. You need people who will point you to Christ. This may include a Christian counselor who is trained in trauma and addiction recovery. When you are hurt and broken, you need people who will speak the truth in love and keep redirecting you.

These three truths are a starting point. There is so much more to say about this addiction. One article won’t solve the problem, but it can at least start the conversation. Sexual sin is not new to Christendom. It has been a part of the story since the Fall. The question that we must ask today is, “How are we going to confront it?” As a Church, we must meet the addict where they are and call them out with a compassionate desire for their repentance and redemption. For the fallout victims, we must see them, recognize their hurt, love them well, and bear their burdens. No one is immune and the only vaccine to this pandemic is the truth of the Gospel.

[1] https://www.barna.com/the-porn-phenomenon/, 2016.

[2] https://www.therecoveryvillage.com/process-addiction/porn-addiction/pornography-statistics/#:~:text=How%20many%20people%20are%20addicted,the%20classification%20of%20porn%20addiction., 2022.

[3] https://www.barna.com/the-porn-phenomenon/, 2016.

[4] http://www.techaddiction.ca/files/porn-addiction-statistics.jpg

[5] https://www.covenanteyes.com/2014/02/03/brain-chemicals-and-porn-addiction/

[6] https://www.covenanteyes.com/2014/02/03/brain-chemicals-and-porn-addiction/

[7] https://www.barna.com/the-porn-phenomenon/



The Story of God’s Glory in Christ

“When the fullness of time had come, God sent forth his Son” (Gal. 4:4), and now we are living at “the end of the ages” (1 Cor. 10:11; cf. Rom. 13:11). Jesus opened his ministry by “proclaiming the gospel of God, and saying, ‘The time is fulfilled, and the kingdom of God is at hand; repent and believe in the gospel’ ” (Mark 1:15). Isaiah anticipated the good news of God’s end-times reign through his royal servant and anointed conqueror (Isa. 40:9–11; 52:7–10; 61:1–3), and Jesus saw his own ministry realizing it. His kingdom message continued after his resurrection (Acts 1:3) and was shaped by the testimony that to faithfully “understand the Scriptures” means that we will see the Old Testament forecasting the Messiah’s death and resurrection and his mission to save the nations: “Thus it is written, that the Christ should suffer and on the third day rise from the dead, and that repentance for the forgiveness of sins should be proclaimed in his name to all nations, beginning from Jerusalem” (Luke 24:45–47; cf. Acts 1:3, 8; 3:18, 24; 10:43).[1]

Paul, too, believed the Old Testament announced God’s kingdom in Christ and the church he would build (Acts 26:22–23; cf. 20:25; 28:23).

The apostle proclaimed “the gospel of God . . . concerning his Son,” and he recognized that God “promised [it] beforehand through his prophets in the holy Scriptures” (Rom. 1:1–3; cf. Gal. 3:8). The Old Testament first anticipated, foreshadowed, and foretold the good news that we now enjoy—that the reigning God would eternally save and satisfy sinners who believe through Christ’s life, death, and resurrection (cf. John 1:45; 5:39, 46; 8:56; Heb. 11:13; 1 Pet. 1:10–11). The progress from creation to the fall to redemption to consummation is in a very real sense his-story, and it is this kingdom program that provides the framework for exalting Christ in the Old Testament.

Christ Is Central to God’s Creative and Salvation-Historical Purposes

Salvation history is the progressive unfolding of God’s redemptive purposes disclosed from Genesis to Revelation, all of which grow out of and culminate in God’s commitment to glorify himself in Christ. Scripture progresses through five distinct but overlapping covenants and through various peoples, events, and institutions, all of which culminate in Jesus’s person and work. Indeed, all God’s purposes in space and time begin and end with Christ. We thus read,

By [the Son] all things were created, in heaven and on earth, visible and invisible. . . . All things were created through and for him. And he is before all things, and in him all things hold together. And he is the head of the body, the church. He is the beginning, the firstborn from the dead, that in everything he might be preeminent. (Col. 1:16–18)

Furthermore, we learn that “the mystery of [God’s] will” is “according to his purpose, which he set forth in Christ as a plan for the fullness of time, to unite all things in him, things in heaven and things on earth” (Eph. 1:9–10). God’s creative and salvation-historical purposes climax in Christ.

The Old Testament’s laws, history, prophecy, and wisdom point to Jesus (Matt. 5:17–18; Mark 1:15; Acts 3:18; 1 Cor. 1:23–24), and the entire storyline pivots on him. He thus declared, “The Law and the Prophets were until John; since then the good news of the kingdom of God is preached” (Luke 16:16). Paul, too, noted, “For Christ is the end of the law for righteousness to everyone who believes” (Rom. 10:4). “The law was our guardian until Christ came. . . . But now that faith has come, we are no longer under a guardian” (Gal. 3:24–26; cf. Heb. 8:6, 13). “All the promises of God find their Yes in him” (2 Cor. 1:20).

By disclosing Christ as the Old Testament’s goal, the Father also illuminates his intent for the earlier parts. And in turn, those earlier parts then clarify the meaning of Jesus’s person and work. In Christ, all the problems the Old Testament raises find their solution (Eph. 1:10; Col. 1:20), and all that the Old Testament anticipates is fully and finally realized. In Christ, shadow gives rise to substance (Col. 2:16–17), types move to antitype (e.g., Rom. 5:14; 1 Cor. 10:6, 11), and what God promised he now fulfills (Luke 24:44; 2 Cor. 1:20). In Christ, light triumphs over darkness (Matt. 4:15–16; 2 Cor. 4:6). The new creation, new age, and new covenant overcome the old creation, old age, and old covenant.

The flow of God’s saving purposes in history demands that Christian Old Testament interpretation starts and ends with Christ. He is the hub around which all else turns and the measure upon which all else is weighed. As the means and focus of God’s self-revelation through his Scriptures, the divine Son must operate as the heart of all exegesis and theology. Because Jesus stands at the beginning and end of all God’s creative and redemptive purposes, we must interpret the Old Testament through Christ and for Christ.


Content taken from Delighting in the Old Testament by Jason S. DeRouchie, ©2024. Used by permission of Crossway, a publishing ministry of Good News Publishers, crossway.org.

[1] On the central role of these verses for the theology of Luke-Acts, see Brian J. Tabb, After Emmaus: How the Church Fulfills the Mission of Christ (Wheaton, IL: Crossway, 2021).



Live Your Identity! The One Whose Name is Written in the Book of Life

In Rev 21:27 John describes the role God gives to his people by writing their names in his heavenly book. This is a received role. Nevertheless, this role grounds and compels activity as one embraces God’s initiative and call to identify with him and the Lamb. This received role includes all the benefits of kingdom life portrayed in Revelation, including forgiveness of sin, divine enablement, and providential care. And it demands that the one written by God in the Lamb’s book of life lives truthfully and purely in God’s presence. John’s inscription imagery at the conclusion of Revelation 21 must be considered in light of his broader matrix of inscription ideas that precede, especially those places where humans or personified individuals are in view.

Writing Names and Titles

Inscriptions figure prominently in Revelation. In Rev 2:17b, Jesus promises the church in Pergamum that he will give those who conquer a white stone with an inscription known only to the one who receives it. Jesus promises the conquerors in Philadelphia (Rev 3:12b) that he will make them pillars of God and write on them God’s name, the name of the new Jerusalem, and his new name.

John uses references to inscriptions as a cohesive feature binding units of thought in the narrative flow of Revelation 13–14 and 17–19. First, in John’s portrait of the evil triumvirate in Revelation 13, John notes that humanity worships the beast from the sea. Everyone, that is, whose name is not written in the Lamb’s book of life (Rev 13:8b). Those who worship the beast take his mark on their forehead or right hand (Rev 13:16). John counters that group with his vision of the 144,000, whom God sealed as his own in Revelation 7, standing with the Lamb on Mount Zion. John notes that God’s sealed ones have the name of the Lamb and the Father’s name written on their foreheads (Rev 14:1). John’s use of inscription imagery coheres Revelation 13–14 as a composite section of the book.

Second, references to inscriptions hold Revelation 17–19 together. Here, John describes the fall of Babylon and the victory of Jesus over the beast and his false prophet. In John’s vision, Babylon is personified as a woman, a harlot filled with blasphemous names (Rev 17:3). And on her forehead, John notes in Rev 17:5, is written an epithet describing her as the mother of prostitutes and evil on earth. In Rev 13:8, John states that all those whose names are not written in the book of life worship the beast and his image. In Rev 17:8b, he notes that that group is yet astounded by the beast who rises in power at the time of Babylon’s destruction. Inscription imagery in Revelation 17 validates and verifies the evil status of Babylon, the beast, and those who associate with them. But, inscriptions are neutral and can be employed to validate and verify God and his people. Thus, when Jesus returns as the rider on the white horse in Revelation 19, readers should almost expect some reference to inscriptions. John does not disappoint, concluding his portrayal of Jesus by stating in Rev 19:16 that the epithet King of Kings and Lord of Lords is written on Jesus’s robe and thigh.

Writing People

When John uses inscription imagery in Revelation with respect to the content of writing, he usually refers to a message, name, or title/epithet. In the final two chapters of Revelation, John breaks that pattern. He is no longer concerned with the inscription of names that might designate people but directly with people. In the New Jerusalem, just as in the lake of fire, people and not names dwell. 

At the great white throne judgment, John does not state that the names of those not written in the book of life go to everlasting punishment. Rather, the person not written is assigned to eternal punishment (Rev 20:15). John uses the indefinite relative pronoun ‘anyone,’ where we expect him to use a form of the noun ‘name.’ Though a name might be implied, taking into account previous references in Rev 13:8 and 17:8, the absence of a name and the presence of ‘anyone’ emphasizes that in the end, God will judge persons.

In the final paragraph of John’s description of the New Jerusalem (Rev 21:22–27), John first describes God’s presence there and then notes the demographics and quality of people beholding God there. In Rev 21:22–23, John notes that God and the Lamb are central in the New Jerusalem, replacing the sanctuary and the sun. God created the sun to mark times and seasons (Gen 1:14–19; Ps 136:1–9; et al.) and the sanctuary of the temple as the place where his gathered people might experience his presence—a tradition originating in the completion of the tabernacle (Exodus 40) and the temple (1 Kings 8–9). God’s personal presence among his people in the New Jerusalem, the eternal city (Rev 21:1–4, 25), removes the need for these structures that order the older age. 

In Rev 21:24–27, John describes those who will dwell in the New City with God. In view of the literary context, this is an ironic audience. John fuses inscription language in the Lamb’s book of life with nations and kings of the earth. Since Revelation 7, John has set forth what might be called the missionary theme of Revelation, as the nations are among God’s people praising him. But kings of the earth, portrayed most recently in the fall of Babylon, are notorious for rebelling against God—not bringing their glory into God’s presence. But in the flow of Rev 21:25–27, John notes that the nations and even the kings of the earth are among those written in the Lamb’s book of life. This is an exclusive group—opposite the wicked and defiled that have been cast into the lake of fire (Rev 21:8, 27); the group written in the Lamb’s book will now enjoy God forever.

¹ This is the seventh  entry in a series of FTC blog posts noting how John uses a particular grammatical form, the articular substantival participle, for specific words in Revelation that resemble a playwright’s roles in a script.

² γράφω in Rev 21:27.

³ Buist Fanning comments, “He (John) had spoken in the previous verses primarily of groups of people (‘the dead’ in vv. 12a, 12f, 13a, 13b), but here (as in v. 13c ‘each one’) he speaks of ‘anyone [τις] … not found written in the book of life’ (v. 15a). The fate of such an individual is to be ‘thrown’ (ἐβλήθη) into the fiery lake of condemnation just as the infernal trinity along with Death and Hades were ‘thrown’ into it previously (19:20; 20:10, 14)” (Revelation, ZECNT [Grand Rapids: Zondervan, 2020], 520).

i.e., ὄνομα.

G.K. Beale writes, “They were written in the book of the Lamb before the creation, which means that they were identified at that time as ones who would benefit from the Lamb’s redemptive death. Therefore, they have been given the protection of eternal life, which comes as a result of the Lamb’s death. This prehistorical identification with the Lamb has protected them from the deceptions of the world, which threaten to suppress their trust in the Lamb, and has enabled them to be ready to enter the gates of the city to enjoy the life for which they have been destined” (The Book of Revelation: A Commentary on the Greek Text, NIGTC [Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 1999], 1102).



Be Faithful Unto Death! The One Who is Slaughtered for Their Testimony

Some of the roles John sets forth in Revelation lack appeal for modern readers, just as they would have for John’s live audience. As creatures, humans tend to avoid pain, not embrace roles that might lead to suffering. Let alone death. John exhibits pastoral concern in Revelation, compelling him to esteem those taking up the role of being slaughtered for Christ. The general hue of Revelation places believers in the cross-hairs of spiritual war, and in Rev 6:9, 18:24, and 20:4 John lauds those who have embraced the role of suffering for their faith even to the point of death. 

The Slaughtered Ones Heard in Heaven

Revelation can be seen as a protracted answer to the saints’s question John hears when the sixth seal is broken, “Lord, the one who is holy and true, how long until you judge those who live on the earth and avenge our blood?” (Rev 6:10, CSB). John notes that the ones crying out to God for justice are those who had been slaughtered because of God’s word and their testimony of Christ (Rev 6:9). The role of being slaughtered or martyred in Rev 6:9 and in Rev 18:24 expresses the highest degree of faithfulness to Christ. Beale states it clearly: “Since the symbol of identity for all Christians is the slain Lamb, they all also can be referred to by the same metaphor.” 

Two ideas in Rev 6:9 underscore the saints’ devotion to God as they cry out for justice. First, John’s grammatical choice of “those who had been slaughtered” portrays the violent means of the martyrs’ deaths as yet vivid and in full color. Even if their deaths were decades before, the effects and violent frame of those deaths cast a shadow extending to the very moment when they cry out for God to avenge their blood. The slaughter they endured was thus an antecedent action that placed the saints in the resulting state implied by the slaughtering event. To be slaughtered is to die violently with scars and visible effects that forever mark a person as having been slaughtered.

Further, the nearness and proximity of the violent death of the martyrs anticipates John’s description of why the saints were slaughtered. At the conclusion of Rev 6:9, John notes that the saints had been martyred because of their continuous, consistent testimony of Christ. Those who acted faithfully, even to the point of being slaughtered, did so after fulfilling the role of testifying to the life, death, and resurrection of Christ. The saints were not one-offs or kamikaze-like actors; instead, regularly as believers, they were holding fast in the role of witness.

Second, the slaughtered ones’ testimony was related to the word of God. God’s word and the testimony of the martyrs, in this context, must be understood not only as two sides of one coin but the latter as the expression of the former. The martyrs personally testified God’s word as revealed in Christ and they, not God’s word, shed blood for that testimony. God’s word guided their lives and was worth their lives.  

The Slaughtered Ones Rejected on Earth

John’s description of the fall of Babylon underscores God’s just wrath. In Rev 18:21–23, John employs a series of emphatic negations to note that the very characteristics for which Babylon was attractive would cease at the moment of God’s judgment. Everything earthly in her would be condemned. Why? Babylon is portrayed not only as the city of neon and glitz but blood and gore—of God’s people. “In her was found the blood of prophets and saints, and of all those slaughtered on the earth” (Rev 18:24). 

Just as in Rev 6:9, here in Rev 18:24 as well, the interpretation of the conjunction “and” plays a formative role in understanding the verse. Does it coordinate three separate groups of humanity or three labels/functional roles for one group of humanity? The flexibility of descriptors like saints, prophets, and slaves, with not only martyrdom but also general suffering in Revelation, portrays a broad spectrum of persecution that the single people of God have endured across the ages (à la Hebrews 11). Thus Rev 18:24 refers to one group, and God’s people, the saints are faithful in their prophetic calling, they fulfill the role of suffering for their testimony, sometimes unto death.

The Behaded Raised to Reign

We noted that in John’s vision of the fifth seal (Rev 6:9–11), the slaughtered ones suffered because of God’s word and their testimony. In Rev 20:4, John writes that the testimony of believers and God’s word are why believers are beheaded: “Then I saw thrones, and people seated on them who were given authority to judge. I also saw the souls of those who had been beheaded because of their testimony about Jesus and because of the word of God.” On the spectrum of suffering, slaughter and beheading rank on the high extreme. And in Rev 6:9 and 20:4, those faithful in the role of suffering even unto death are rewarded, in the former with white robes and in the latter with thrones upon which they will rule and reign with Christ.

The Role of Martyr Without the Martyr Complex

Jesus called his disciples to take up their cross and follow him (Matt 16:24; Mark 8:34; Luke 9:23). They knew what Jesus meant. Luke notes that when large crowds were traveling with Jesus, he told them that if they wanted to follow him, they would, comparatively speaking, have to hate their closest family members and even their own lives to be his disciples (Luke 14:25–27). Jesus does not call us to look for ways to suffer but to know that we will suffer for him. Disciples have an endurance mindset because of the value of knowing and being known of Jesus. John’s esteem for those who have been slaughtered and those who have been martyred reminds us that our faith is valuable.

¹ This is the fifth entry in a series of FTC blog posts noting how John uses a particular grammatical form, the articular substantival participle, for specific words in Revelation that resemble a playwright’s roles in a script.

² σφάζω in Rev 6:9; 18:24; πελεκίζω in Rev 20:4.

³ G.K. Beale, The Book of Revelation: A Commentary on the Greek Text, NIGTC (Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 1999), 28, 392.

Beale, Revelation, 391.

J. Scott Duvall writes, “These Christian martyrs suffered and died specifically because of their witness” (The Heart of Revelation [Grand Rapids: Baker, 2016], 109).

Babylon will never be found again (v. 21), the sounds of musicians will never be heard again (v. 22a), craftsman will never be found again (v. 22b), the sound of a mill will never be heard again (v. 22c), lamp light will never be seen again (v. 23a), the voice of bride and bridegroom will never be found again (v. 23b).

Rev 11:18; 12:11; 16:6; 17:6; 19:2.

“Throughout Revelation, God’s people are not simply called to avoid evil and endure suffering, they are pictured as faithful witnesses and called to faithfully bear testimony to Jesus Christ, conquering by being faithful even to the point of death” (Andreas J. Köstenberger and Gregory Goswell, Biblical Theology: A Canonical, Thematic, and Ethical Approach [Wheaton: Crossway, 2023], 681).

David E. Aune notes that in the ancient world, beheadings were a public affair signaled by a trumpet so that the crowd could observe the punishment for the crime (Revelation 17–22, vol. 52C of Word Biblical Commentary [Dallas: Word, 1998], 1086-87). 



Set Your Compass! The One Who is Oriented Toward God

Believers need to look at their spiritual compass regularly. In seasons of dullness, when the landscape of life looks the same day after day, orienting ourselves toward God reminds us that the grind has a bigger purpose. In seasons of danger, orienting ourselves toward God fortifies us to endure challenges to our faith. John’s audience in Revelation faced both seasons of danger and seasons of deception. John writes that the one who is oriented toward God is protected from Satan’s lies and assured of rule with Christ in the age to come.

Spiritual Ears in Every Church

In the letters to the churches in Revelation 2-3, Jesus describes the role of being oriented toward God. The letters differ in length and use of metaphors and literary features, but they all display a general introduction-body-conclusion framework. The repeated phrase “anyone who has ears to hear” calls the recipients of the letters to orient themselves toward God. Jesus’s formulaic expression effectively establishes a concrete role he expects believers to embrace so they might fulfill his instructions. In the broader discourse of Revelation, those oriented toward God have rejected the false teaching propagated by the beast, the false prophet, and Satan (see Revelation 13).

Jesus’s statements after the letters to the seven churches echo his point in the parable of the soils (Matt 13:1–15; Mark 4:1–12; Luke 8:4–10). There, Jesus cites Isa 6:9–10 to explain that God has enabled those who hear and accept the kingdom’s message while others who hear the same message and reject it have been hardened by him. Regardless of the specific imagery Jesus uses to introduce himself at the beginning of each letter or the various metaphors and Old Testament themes Jesus employs in the body of the letters, Jesus concludes his address to each church by identifying the role of the recipient. Those in the recipient’s role are called to heed the message and respond faithfully. They are to embrace the role of being oriented toward God.

Protection of the Mind

In Revelation 12–13, John records his visions of the spiritual forces that oppose God and his people on earth. The dragon, the beast from the sea, and the beast from the earth described in Revelation 13 employ their delegated authority against believers, taking some captive and killing others (Rev 13:10). They arrange the structures of the world to intimidate and coerce humanity to worship them, establishing an earthly kingdom. Everything about the nature and activity of the dragon, the beast from the sea, and the beast from the earth in Revelation 13 mimics and mocks the triune God of heaven and his rule over the cosmos. Satan and his forces establish a system for the members of their kingdom—captive by fear and force—to receive a branding mark visible on the right hand or forehead (Rev 13:16–17). This mark, the symbol of power for the beast and Satan’s earthly kingdom, ironically portrays weakness because it identifies the deceived and beguiled with Satan and his impending doom. And in Rev 13:18, John urges “the one who has understanding,” the one oriented toward God, to resist Satan’s lies. 

In the letters to the churches in Revelation 2–3, “ears” signify that one’s faculties are sensitive to God. Ears resemble spiritual discernment that will be carried out by one’s entire body. The same idea is communicated via “mind” in Rev 13:18 (see also Rev 17:9). The one oriented toward God heeds Jesus’s instructions in Revelation 2–3 and realizes Satan’s limited capacity in Revelation 13. The actor in this role is oriented toward God, responding faithfully to God’s revelation about his activity and the finite domain he has entrusted to Satan.

Living in Light of Eternity

And what does John envision for those who are oriented toward God, who walk in spiritual wisdom and resist the beast’s efforts to expand Satan’s kingdom? In Rev 20:6a, John describes the blessedness of “the one who shares in the first resurrection.” John notes that this holy and blessed role of sharing in the first resurrection is consistent with a life of spiritual fidelity. The role of sharing in the first resurrection befits those who have resisted the mark of the beast and maintained their witness of Christ even unto death (Rev 20:4). Those who enjoy a share in the first resurrection offer spiritual service to God and reign with Christ (Rev 20:6b). The concept of participation in resurrection life rests upon the spatial dualism surfacing throughout Revelation. The believer’s share in eternal life anticipates the New Jerusalem coming down from heaven in Revelation 21. In that domain, every creature is oriented toward God and the Lamb, the source of light itself (Rev 21:22–23).

Conclusion

So where are you oriented? Is your compass fixed on the due north of New Jerusalem and life with God and the Lamb? Do your ears listen to what Jesus says to the churches with a mind trained towards sensitivity toward God? Or do you wander in seasons of dullness, danger, or deceit? Orient your ears and minds toward Christ as you wait to rule with him in the coming age!

¹ This is the third entry in a series of FTC blog posts noting how John uses a particular grammatical form, the articular substantival participle, for specific words in Revelation that resemble a playwright’s roles in a script.

² ἔχω in Rev 2:7, 11, 17, 2:29; 3:6, 3:13, 22; 13:18; 17:9; and 20:6.

³ Rev 2:7, 11, 17, 2:29; 3:6, 3:13, 22.

Brian J. Tabb writes, “Those with ‘an ear’ rightly grasp that the Spirit of God and the exalted Christ address the churches in and through this book of prophecy. They also test the spritis and resists the siren song of the false prophet and its emissaries such as Balaam and Jezebel (2:14, 20; 16:13-14)” (All Things New: Revelation As Canonical Capstone, NSBT 48 [Downers Grove: IVP Academic], 223-24).

G.K. Beale suggests that the parallels between the conclusion of the seven letters and the parable of the soils imply a mixed congregation in the churches with the result that each hearer’s spiritual state will be made public by how they respond to Jesus’s message (The Book of Revelation: A Commentary on the Greek Text, NIGTC [Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 1999], 234). Yet, as George Beasely-Murray states, Jesus has in view the one who reacts faithfully, overcomes, and receives God’s blessing (“Revelation,” in New Bible Commentary: 21st Century Edition, ed. D. A. Carson et al., 4th ed. [Leicester, England; Downers Grove, IL: Inter-Varsity Press, 1994], 1428).

Robert Mounce notes the cognitive labor believers must expend in order to orient themselves toward God in the midst of spiritual battle, stating “What is crucial at this point is to recognize the true nature of the struggle. While the Lamb was victorious on the cross, the full and public acknowledgment of tha victory awaits a final moment. Believers live in the already/not yet tension of a battle won but no quite over” (The Book of Revelation, rev ed. NICNT [Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 1997], 263).

Ian Paul writes, “Spatial references function as an extended metaphor for humanity’s spiritual state, and the descriptions of the heavenly realm suggest a spiritual, prophetic perspective on the mundane realities of the earthly realm. The consummation of John’s vision report is the coming of the New Jerusalem down from heaven to earth, where the two realities finally converge” (“Introduction to the Book of Revelation” in The Cambridge Companion to Apocalyptic Literaure, ed. Colin McAllister [Cambride: Cambridge University Press, 2020], 43).



Take Up and Read, Take Up and Listen!

I have been a pastor for twenty-five years. That’s a lot of Bible reading and hearing. And I can’t wait for the next time my church gathers so we can read and hear the word together. I am fascinated by John’s emphasis on Revelation as Scripture and how he describes reading and hearing Scripture in Revelation. John establishes formal roles of reading and hearing Revelation, the final book of Scripture, so the word of God will forever guide the church.

The One Who Reads God’s Word

John begins Revelation by noting two streams of communication. What he is writing has come from God through Jesus through an angel to John. John’s words are the very words of God. The first communication stream in Rev 1:1–2 could be labeled spatially as a descending communication stream. The second stream is horizontal, described in Rev 1:3. John’s grammatical choices portray reading, hearing, and following (what was heard in the reading) like roles believers should embrace as a part of their Christian life. 

The link between Rev 1:2 and 3 is a text, words on some material form. John wrote, and he envisions believers embracing the role of the public reader. The public reading of Scripture that John expects pre-dates the synagogue communities and churches of his day, finding its early precedent in Moses’s reading of the law to Israel as they prepared to cross the Jordan River in Deuteronomy 27–32. After the exiles returned to Jerusalem, they gathered to hear the law read publicly (see Nehemiah 8). When the synagogue communities in Palestine and throughout the Mediterranean region gathered, reading Scripture was a part of their agenda (Luke 4:16-21; Acts 13:13-15, 27, 42-44; 15:21). Paul exhorted Timothy to devote himself to the public reading of Scripture (1 Tim 4:13) and told the Colossians to exchange letters with the Laodiceans so that both letters could be read in both churches (Col 4:16).

The one taking up the role of reading Scripture was not only blessed, he was a blessing. Not simply a blessing, but he was even necessary since the vast majority of the ancient world could not read. Therefore, those who read Scripture to the community enabled God’s people to hear his word and be blessed in the hearing.

The One Who Hears God’s Word

Those faithful in the role of hearing God’s word read to them, John notes in Rev 1:3, are indeed blessed. The proverbial predicate nominative “blessed” recalls many points in the storyline of Scripture, including Psalm 1 and Jesus’s Beatitudes at the beginning of the Sermon on the Mount (Matt 5:3–12) and Sermon on the Plain (Luke 6:20–22). The faithful enjoy God’s blessing for many activities—including hearing Scripture.

The role of hearing John’s prophecy—the culmination of Scripture—is not to be a one-off endeavor. Those who hear God’s word and enjoy its blessing do not stand on the stage once but repeatedly—with the company of hearers. The axiomatic portrait of hearing and blessing in Rev 1:3 is carried not only by the use of blessed as the predicate nominative but also through John’s grammatical choice describing those who hear, and hear, and hear. “Play it again!” John envisions hearers of Revelation exclaiming. John describes a crowded stage of actors that includes a reader and many hearers who respond to what they have heard by keeping their testimony of Christ to the end despite danger and opposition that will come upon them precisely because they are hearing and heeding John’s prophetic message. 

And at the end of Revelation, John returns to the role of those hearing God’s word. In Rev 22:17, he writes, “Both the Spirit and the bride say, ‘Come!’ Let anyone who hears, say, ‘Come!’ Let the one who is thirsty come. Let the one who desires take the water of life freely” (CSB). The one who hears is the first of three roles that John would have his readers embrace. The placement of the role of hearing in Rev 22:17 is noteworthy for two reasons. First, at the broader discourse level of Revelation, it returns us to Rev 1:3 and further accentuates the communicative string John describes in Rev 1:1-3. Anyone who has heard the apocalypse has heard God’s revelation through Jesus, an angel, and John. Second, at the micro discourse level of Rev 22:17, the one who hears is the first of three roles, including desiring and thirsting. That hearing is listed first in this string of roles implies that hearing what John has written stimulates the hearer’s senses to seek God. 

John portrays the role of hearing such that those embracing God’s word as it is read would undertake two specific tasks. First, they would long for John’s message to be actualized. The hearer is to say, “Come!” John likely has in mind that those hearing his prophecy of Jesus’s victorious return in Rev 19:11–21 would long to see the rider on the white horse arrive to conquer evil and consummate his kingdom. Second, in Rev 22:18, John states, “I testify to everyone who hears the words of the prophecy of this book: If anyone adds to them, God will add to him the plagues that are written in this book,” John admonishes those hearing his prophecy that they are stewards of God’s word. Because John has truthfully written what the angelic messengers revealed to him from Jesus from God, again recalling the authoritative communicative string outlined in Rev 1:1–3, those in the role of hearing John’s prophecy must maintain God’s word to the next generation unchanged. They must heed it faithfully, adding or subtracting nothing.

Feeling the Weight of the Word

All of this is serious business. If we read Scripture in public, we should attend to our words. Sometimes, we should read faster. For instance, a passage like Isaiah 40 is a long thought, and it would be good to pick up the pace so that the hearers sense the crescendo of Isaiah’s argument about God’s faithfulness. Sometimes, we need to read more slowly. Don’t hustle through John 1:1-18. We should familiarize ourselves with the words of a text so that when we read it, we can emphasize repeated words or phrases, pause without interrupting ideas, and give hearers a sense of the wholeness of Scripture. 

And when we hear the word, let’s airplane mode our devices and turn off all notifications. Prioritize the printed page so that as you listen and follow along, even in a different translation, you can follow the broader flow of thought surrounding that portion of Scripture. Be blessed in the reading and hearing of God’s word! 

 

¹ This is the first entry in a series on FTC noting how John uses a particular grammatical form, the articular substantival participle, for specific words in Revelation that resemble a playwright’s roles in a script.

² ἀναγινώσκω in Rev 1:3.

³ “Although the ‘scripturalization’ of Christian worship certainly became more formalized and regularized across time, both the importance and the impact of corporate reading of Scripture writings are evident from the outset of the Jesus-movement” (Larry W. Hurtado, Destroyer of the gods: Early Christian Distinctiveness in the Roman World [Waco: Baylor University Press, 2016], 108).

⁴ See especially Harry J. Gamble, Books and Readers in the Early Church: A History of Early Christian Texts (New Haven: Yale, 1995). 

ἀκούω in Rev 1:3; 22:17, 18.

This is the first of seven beatitudes that John writes in Revelation (see also, 14:13; 16:15; 19:9; 20:6; 22:7, 14).

If, as David E. Aune states, “ancient authors not only chose words to convey the meanings they intended but also chose words whose sounds effectively communicated those meanings” (Revelation 1-5, WBC 52A [Dallas: Word, 1997], 21, italics original), we would expect no less concerning the final installment of Holy Scripture. 



Digital Detox, Intentional Ignorance, and the Proximity Principle

For Christians to thrive in the modern era, there are two spiritual disciplines we must adopt: Digital Detox (fasting from screens) and Intentional Ignorance (fasting from information).

The rapid growth of digital technology has implications for our spiritual formation. The form of connectivity that comes with smartphones and watches is fundamentally new in human history; this isn’t necessarily good or bad, but it is certainly different. Thus, the countercultural spiritual disciplines that serve our growth ought to be different as well.

Spiritual formation and the purposeful means of formation (spiritual disciplines, habits, and practices) are always contextual; the dehumanizing forces of our idols express themselves differently in different cultures. Our culture is the first culture that is radically digital.

Deformative Power of Digitization

Being chronically connected to the internet tempts us to be “like God” in fresh and terrifying ways. We have never before been as tempted to pursue omnipresence and omniscience as we presently are.

When we have 5G internet in our pockets and on our wrists, we are networked into the entire developed world. We can instantaneously observe, communicate, and be interrupted by people on the other side of the planet who are on their phones more easily than our neighbors down the street who are grilling in their backyard or playing in their front yards.

We are more interrupted than ever; our interactions with our closest loved ones and neighbors are more vulnerable to being hijacked by the wants or needs of someone far away as our own attention spans have been truncated by our notification settings.

Information used to be a hot commodity; now it is ubiquitous. With “googling” as the new verb and “GPTing” something right around the corner, access to information is instant. Will we forget what not knowing something for more than 30 seconds feels like?

Omnipresence is one of the characteristics of God. When technology makes us hyper-present, not only can our nervous systems not handle it, but our close friends and loved ones go unloved because we are aloof, distracted, and preoccupied.

Omniscience is also one of the characteristics of God. God can handle knowing all things, we cannot. We are limited, bound, and local by virtue of being embodied. From simple trivia to current events, it is good for us to not know things.

Part of the reason we are so mentally unhealthy as a society is that we are flirting with omnipresence and omniscience. We know too much and know about it, so we are anxious and depressed.

The Power of the Proximity Principle

Jesus tells the parable of the Good Samaritan (Luke 10:30ff) in response to the question, “who is my neighbor?” In the story, a man is harmed on a road and in need of help. Later, two people travel on the same road, see the man, and then pass by him. But a Good Samaritan travels by where he is lying harmed, sees him, has compassion, and then acts.

The first two stand condemned not simply because they didn’t help, but because they were right there, up-close-in-the-flesh, and able to help, but still didn’t help.

The basic ethical principle here: proximity and ability create responsibility.

Many are plagued by a low-grade sense of chronic guilt and anxiety because our nervous systems are not designed to handle all of the information we have access to in our digital age. Young people, in particular, are plagued with over-responsibility that leads to paralysis and depression.

We end up functioning like the Levite and the Priest in Luke 10:31-32 who are unable or unwilling to love the people right in front of them because we are preoccupied with all of the information, problems, and suffering far away from us.

If we look through the lenses of proximity and ability, some of our info-induced anxiety will dissipate and we’ll have a clearer conscience as we love those who are in the “place” God has placed us (like the Good Samaritan).

Only God can handle omniscience (knowing everything) and omnipresence (being everywhere), and we should repent of our desire to be like God in this way.

The Christian tradition has long practiced the discipline of fasting. Most basically, fasting is depriving oneself of a good thing for the purposes of prayer and growth. Our new context requires two new forms of fasting: fasting from digital devices and fasting from information.

How to Practice Digital Detox

A digital detox is a fast from digital devices, especially your smartphone, smartwatch, or tablet. The digital detox helps us repent of omnipresence. It is a break from being tethered to your electrical umbilical cord and your dopamine pacifier. Here is what I try to make this look like for me:

  • Daily: When I walk in the door from work, I leave my phone on a shelf by the door for at least thirty minutes while I play with my kids and reconnect with my wife.
  • Daily: I dock my phone at a table on the other side of my bedroom a minimum of 40 minutes before I go to bed and don’t look at it for 20 minutes after I wake up (except to stop my alarm)
  • Weekly: A 12-hour Digital Detox that includes going to the park, going on a walk, or going to the gym without my phone.
  • Monthly: A 48-hour social media, email, and texting Digital Detox.
  • Twice Monthly: Leave my phone at home when I go on a date with my wife.
  • Annually: Once per year, a 3-day personal Spiritual Retreat that includes a Digital Detox among other forms of traditional fasting and prayer while I focus on being present to the Lord.
  • Annually: Once per year while on vacation, a 5-day total Digital Detox where my phone and computer are all the way off, and I focus on being present to my family.

How to Practice Intentional Ignorance

If it is true that ignorance is bliss, then that explains a lot of our current mental health crisis. The information we are asked to carry and steward is too much for our non-Divine minds.

Intentional Ignorance is the radically countercultural choice to embrace not knowing everything you could know. Here is what I try to make this look like for me:

  • Less Updates: I don’t watch Instagram or Facebook stories. I don’t want to know what people are up to all the time.
  • Less Breaking News: I unfollow almost all news accounts, especially those that do BREAKING NEWS.
  • Less Answered Questions: At least once per day, I let a question go unanswered. What is the actual difference in diameter between the NBA ball and the WNBA ball? I’m going to choose just not to get my phone out and Google that. What happened with that rocket in North Korea yesterday? I choose not to find out the answer to that. In doing so, I pray, “Lord, you are the Omniscient One; because I trust you and your approval I don’t need to know that.” The feeling of enduring ignorance is foreign to us but serves our formation.

Many of these practices are aspirational for me; too often I’m embarrassed at the unhealthy patterns of my own device use. I recommend these habits as someone who knows his own.

Humans are called to have dominion over creation, but too often our own creations have dominion over us. The dual practices of Digital Detox and Intentional Ignorance will help us right the balance of power that our devices have over us as we seek congruence with and fidelity to the Spirit of Christ.