fresh eyes

If you went to Bible college or seminary, chances are you have studied eschatology. If you haven't, you may not be familiar with the term. But if you belong to a church that was formed in the last 150 years, you have probably heard a lot of teaching/preaching related to it. Eschatology is the "study of the last things," or as most evangelical/fundamentalist churches phrase it "end-time prophecy."

While attending Regent University, I took an advanced course in biblical interpretation. For this course we used the book of Revelation as our text. The point of the course was not to learn the book of Revelation, but to learn how to study the Bible properly. Most of us approach Scripture with a lot of baggage--a lot of preconceived ideas. Some of those ideas are given to us by teaching we hear in church. Other ideas come from our society/culture (think "Left Behind"). The point is that we read passages and we have already interpreted much of it just because of what we have heard or been taught up to that point. The purpose of the class was to teach us to look at Scripture with fresh eyes--to lay aside the "baggage" as best we could (a tall order for any one of us). The result was multiple "aha" moments as I endeavored to read the book of Revelation as if I had never read it before, and as if I had never heard any teaching on it before.

I discovered that much of the book of Revelation is not about future events, but about past events, or about events that would come to pass in the near future for the first readers. The chapter that I was assigned to study was chapter 12. As I read it, for the first time I realized that the battle in heaven waged by Michael against the dragon was a picture of what was taking place during the crucifixion. It was what was accomplished in Heaven while Jesus was hanging on the cross, "now is come salvation." I know that some of you already knew that. I am just dense when it comes to some things, and this was one of them.

Currently, I am reading a book by N.T. Wright, Surprised by Hope. I won't go into detail, but he makes some pretty radical (to me) statements regarding eschatology (last things). Again, I am challenged to re-think my notions about the "last days." However, I am not writing this to challenge your thinking on prophecy or eschatology (although we could talk about that if you want). Instead, I hope to encourage you to consider your approach to reading the Bible.

When was the last time that you approached Scripture with fresh eyes? When was the last time that you made an effort to set aside your preconceived ideas when reading a passage? You may be surprised what you see for the first time. Not long ago, I read a book called Twisted Scriptures. In it the author explains how people who were involved in cults and who have come out, need to take a break from reading the Bible for awhile. And when they start reading again, they need to use a different version because so many of the old phrases and words are still loaded with meaning from what they had been taught. Most people reading this have never been involved in a cult, but the principle is the same--reading the Scripture with fresh eyes. I would challenge anyone reading this to try reading the Bible with fresh eyes. Lay aside what you think you know and ask God to open your eyes to what you may have been missing.