Do you take the Bible literally? It appears to be a simple, even innocent, question. Yet it comes packed with assumptions. This is no value-free inquiry that can be answered with a plain yes or no. This is a test question.

 

Depending on the questioner, it means different things. To someone describing herself as a Bible-believing fundamentalist, it’s a test of orthodoxy. If you take the Bible literally, you are a good and faithful servant of God worthy of all acceptance. If not, you are a heretical heathen headed for hellfire. However, if the questioner sees himself as a progressive and ecumenical believer, taking the Bible literally may signal a closed minded, regressive extremist.

 

Like most of life’s questions, “Do you take the Bible literally” is not a binary operation. Most questions of any significance can’t be answered with an unadorned yes or no.Consider this one: “Are you blue?”

 

You can’t reply with a straightforward yes or no until you have a little more information. And even then, a proper answer might require some nuance. If you’re talking about my skin color, then the answer is no. If you are inquiring into my support of the University of Michigan football team, once again the answer is no. However, if you’re asking if I’m sad, I might respond with a shaded affirmative. I could be a little blue, very blue, or not blue at all.

 

When it comes to communicating, nearly everyone inherently understands the use of symbolic speech. In fact, semioticians and other schools of philosophy argue that all speech—especially written communication—is symbolic. Letters symbolize sounds that symbolize ideas when they are combined with other letters that symbolize sounds that symbolize ideas. Whew!

 

There’s no need to belabor the point. When it comes to the Bible, to a supposed literal interpretation renders most everything ridiculous. Consider the little-known story of Jotham in Judges 9. Responding to an attempt by his brother, Abimelech, to become a regional strongman, Jotham fled to the sacred spot of Mt. Gerazim. There, he gathered the men of Shechem and told them a story.

 

The tale recounted an incident when trees met in order to anoint one tree king. First, they asked the olive tree. But he refused. Then, they invited the fig tree to take the crown. He declined too. Then they approached the vine, and he turned down the offer. Finally, they asked the bramble who accepted gladly.

 

If we’re to take the Bible literally, we’re justified in assuming that trees—literal trees—once met in order to form an arboreal monarchy. Did they hold a cabinet meeting (yes, that’s a horrible pun) in order to nominate one particular species the king of the forest?

 

If we take the Bible literally, we’re bound to come to some ridiculous conclusions—especially when it comes to the book of Revelation. Approaching it with a literalist mindset skews our understanding of the entire vision. Let’s take a brief tour.

 

In chapter 5, a lamb appears and it seems to have been previously killed. He walks to a throne, takes a scroll, and opens its seven seals. Is this nothing more than a barnyard critter? Can a literal sheep hold on to a scroll, much less open its seals? Does John want us to see nothing more than a ram using his hooves to grasp a scroll and pry it open? Or does the lamb represent someone else—perhaps Jesus?  Taking the Bible literally limits us from seeing the use of symbols.

 

Once the lamb opens the seals, amazing activities unfold. Four colorful horses with their menacing riders gallop onto the scene. The first one conquers. The second one takes peace from the earth and seemingly entices people kill each other. The third one carries a pair of scales while a mysterious voice sets the price of wheat, barley, olive oil, and wine. Finally, the fourth rider is named death, and he destroys a quarter of the earth. So much destruction by only four guys on horses. Interesting to note that there is nothing here about modern-day tanks, airplanes, or fossil fuels.

 

And there’s more. This passage has souls under an altar, a great earthquake, a blackened sun, a bloody moon, stars falling to earth, mountains moved, the sky rolled up, and people hiding in the desert. Taking all of this literally would make for an implausible scene. How, after all, could people hide in caves when celestial bodies are landing upon the planet?

 

A literal reading of Revelation really messes with our minds when we get to chapter 13. Here is a seven-headed sea monster in league with a talking earth monster who is concerned with economics. Apparently, both monsters talk, perform miracles, and enjoy killing people. Is this really the point? Even the most hardened literalist interprets these images as some contemporary political power.

 

Then we come to Revelation 17. A literal approach demands that we see it as a prophecy of a woman with the words “Mystery, Babylon the Great, the mother of harlots and of the abominations of the earth” tattooed on her forehead. Additionally, she must sit on a literal seven-headed, ten-horned beast. She’s dressed in purple, has a gold chalice, and likes to sleep around. Incidentally, if we’re to take this literally we have to ignore John’s explanation of it. “This calls for a mind with wisdom. The seven heads are seven hills on which the woman sits. They are also seven kings” (Revelation 17:9-10).

 

How can the beast’s heads be hills? If all this is literal, we don’t need an explanation of the symbols—just a warning. “Hey! When you see a promiscuous woman in a purple dress holding a gold cup and having a tattoo on her forehead riding on some freakish monster…get out of town!” Instead, John interprets the vision. He explains the symbols.

 

When we get to the latter chapters of Revelation, we ought to be ready to discard an exclusively literalistic understanding. There is no literal dragon with an iron chain holding it down. The millennium does not describe an actual thousand years. The sky and earth do not take flight from a white throne. There are no literal books and no geographic anomaly of a fire-filled lake. All of these figures of speech point beyond themselves as illustrations of other realities.

 

One of the most famous episodes in the entire Bible appears at the end of Revelation: the descent of the New Jerusalem into the New Heaven and Earth. More than a political entity in the middle of a re-configured space-time universe, the New Jerusalem signifies the fullness of God’s presence with humanity, of humanity’s unfettered access to God.

 

We might have a tendency to get bedazzled by the bejeweled city walls, gates, and streets. We might look forward to a time when we’ll become overwhelmed by heavenly wealth. Imagine all of the crystal, sapphire, and emerald. Twelve gates, each made of one solid pearl of great price. It’s overpowering. And that’s the point. All of the imagery illustrates more than materialistic wealth. It shows the spectacular glory of God in awe-inspiring terms.

 

In case we miss the point, John uses a variety of images to describe the city—more than just one with fancy stones. “Then I, John, saw the holy city, New Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven as a bride adorned for her husband” (Revelation 21:2). Once again, a literal approach has us looking at a young woman dressed for her wedding night. (Maybe it’s just me, but the phrase “As a bride adorned for her husband” suggests something more than the wedding ceremony.)

 

John’s word picture does not conjure up a city wearing a nightgown. It’s suggestive of the consummation of all things. The union of heaven and earth. Adam knowing his wife Eve and the two becoming one.

 

Understanding the book of Revelation begins with recognizing that it is filled with symbols, metaphor, and flowery speech. Reducing the language to something we might vacuously call “literal” doesn’t simplify matters. Instead, it complicates things my creating unnecessary confusion and unwarranted fear. Rather than stripping away the figures of speech, an appreciation for the symbols can unlock the meaning of John’s vision.

 

 

URL: http://www.presence.tv/cms/cov_revelation-literally.php

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