The Revelation of St. John: Conclusion

In his book, The Lamb's Supper, Scott Hahn tells the story of how the Ukrainian Christians "discovered" the liturgy:

In 988, Prince Vladimir of Kiev, upon converting to the Gospel, sent emissaries to Constantinople, the capital city of Eastern Christendom. There they witnessed hte Byzantine liturgy in the cathedral of Holy Wisdom, the grandest church of the East. After experiencing the chant, the incense, the icons--but, above all, the Presence--the emissaries sent word to the prince: "We did not know whether we were in heaven or on earth. Never have we seen such beauty.... We cannot describe it, but this much we can say: there God dwells among mankind" (p.115. The quotation is from The Orthodox Church, Timothy Ware. Baltimore, Penguin Books, 1963, p.269).

Throughout our study of the Book of Revelation, we have seen some bizarre sights and symbols, and have done our best, with the aid of the Tradition of the Church, to decipher their meanings. We have seen the destruction of Jerusalem, the persecutions of the Church, and the continual struggle between the Kingdom of God and the Kingdom of the world and the devil.

But through it all, we have seen most fully the Presence of Christ among His people: The Sacrifical Lamb, constantly presenting His atonement before the Father on our behalf; the Warrior King who fights on behalf of those who faithfully persevere; and the Husband, who lives among His Bride with faithful love.

And His presence has been shown through and accompanied by worship. The continual liturgical worship of Heaven gives glory to God and to His Christ. It is the weapon of the warfare against Satan. And it brings about the judgement of all peoples--do they join in the unending song, or do they shut their ears and hearts, and curse God?

But again, more than the worship of Heaven, Revelation gives us a glimpse at the spiritual reality behind our worship in Sunday Mass. Again, Scott Hahn writes,

If we want to see the liturgy as Prince Vladimir's emissaries saw it, we must learn to see the Apocalypse as the Church sees it. If we want to make sense of the Apocalypse, we have to learn to read it with a sacramental imagination. When we look into these matters once again, now with new eyes of faith, we will see the sense amid the strangeness in the Book of Revelation, we will see the glory hidden in the mundane in next Sunday's Mass.
..Look again and discover that the golden thread of liturgy is what holds together the apocalyptic pearls of John's vision:

Sunday worship.........................1:10
a high priest............................1:13
an altar..................................8:3-4; 11:1; 14:18
priests (presbyteroi)...................4:4; 11:15; 14:3;
...........................................19:4
vestments...............................1:13; 4:4; 6:11;
...........................................7:9; 15:6; 19:13-14
consecrated celibacy...................14:4
lamp stands, or Menorah..............1:12; 2:5
penitence................................ch. 2 and 3
incense...................................5:8; 8:3-5
the book, or scroll......................5:1
the Eucharistic Host....................2:17
chalices..................................15:7; ch. 16; 21:9
the Sign of the Cross (the tau)........7:3; 14:1; 22:4
the Gloria................................15:3-4
the Alleluia...............................19:1, 3, 4, 6
Lift up your hearts......................11:12
the "Holy, Holy, Holy"...................4:8
the Amen................................19:4; 22:21
the "Lamb of God"......................5:6 and throughout
the prominence of the Virgin Mary....12:1-6, 13-17
intercession of angels and saints......5:8; 6:9-10; 8:3-4
devotion to St. Michael, archangel....12:7
antiphonal chants........................4:8-11; 5:9-14;
.............................................7:10-12; 18:1-8
readings from Scripture.................ch. 2-3; 5; 8:2-11
the priesthood of the faithful..........1:6; 20:6
catholicity, or universality..............7:9
silent contemplation.....................8:1
the marriage supper of the Lamb.....19:9, 17

Taken together, these elements comprise much of the Apocalypse--and most of the Mass. Other liturgical elements in Revelation are easier for modern readers to miss. For example, few people today know that trumpets and harps were the standard instruments for liturgical music in John's day, as organs are today in the West. And throughout John's vision, the angels and Jesus pronounce blessings using standard liturgical formulas: "Blessed is he who..." If you go back and read Revelation end to end, you'll also notice that all of God's great historical interventions--plagues, wars, and so on--follow closely upon liturgical actions: hymns, doxologies, libations, incensing.
..Yet, the Mass is not just in selected small details. It's in the grand scheme, too. We can see, for instance, that the Apocalypse, like the Mass, divides rather neatly in half. The first eleven chapters concern themselves with the proclamation of the letters to the seven churches and the opening of the scroll. This emphasis on "readings" makes Part One a close match for the Liturgy of the Word. Significantly, the first three chapters of Revelation mark a sort of Penitential Rite; in the seven letters to the churches, Jesus uses the word "repent" eight times. For me, this recalls the words of the ancient Didache, the liturgical manual of the first century: "first confess your transgressions, that your sacrifice may be pure." Even John's opening assumes that the book will be read aloud by a lector within the liturgical assembly: "Blessed is he who reads aloud the words of this prophecy, and blessed are those who hear" (Rev 1:3).
..Revelation's second half begins in chapter 11 with the opening of God's temple in heaven, and culminates in the pouring of the seven chalices and the marriage supper of the Lamb. With the opening of heaven, the chalices, and the banquet, Part Two offers a striking image of the Liturgy of the Eucharist (The Lamb's Supper, pp. 118-121).

So we see, amid the symbolism of Revelation, the definite spiritual reality behind the Mass. And we now see, in the Mass, our own place in history: each and every Mass, we present ourselves before the Throne, to find mercy and forgiveness in the eternal sacrifice of Christ, and to be more united with Him when we receive Him in the Eucharist. And we see the power of that encounter, when Heaven and Earth meet, to save souls and conquer the enemy.

Amen; come, Lord Jesus.
May the grace of the Lord Jesus be with you all. Amen.

God bless.

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