Into the Wardrobe

My minister sent me this. I thought it was one of the most lucid things I have seen on Revelation:

Anyone else like it?

Ive been researching on this site for the last few days,and ive come to the conclusion that his ideas on revelation are spot on.It has cleared up my confusion on the subject and made my faith stronger in the process,as confusion leads to doubt quite often.Revelation was my first ever bible study,talk about jumping in at the deep end

I notice the article mentions chapter 12 quite briefly.
"Rev. 12 offers a picture of the birth and life of Christ which can be interpreted favorably under any paradigm. "

What I noticed recently in reading chapter 12 was the astonishing sequence.

We have the birth of Christ, and Christ's conflict with Satan (12:1-6).
Then we have "war in heaven" and Satan cast out of heaven.

But this is the reverse of the chronology as I've always understood it, that
Satan rebelled against God and was cast out of heaven long before Jesus' birth. Maybe Revelation shows this standard chronology is wrong -- after all, in Job Satan comes in and out of heaven to taunt God.

But even this doesn't fully resolve the discrepancy, I think. In Luke 10:17 Jesus says he saw Satan fall from heaven (past tense). This is before his , resurrection and ascension. But Rev 12 seems to mention the ascension in v 5 "her child was ed up to God and to his throne". So it seems clear that Rev 12 mentions the fall of Satan after Jesus' ascension, but Jesus before his ascension says Satan's fall has already happened.

Maybe this is as Lewis might say "the usual muddle about times when dealing with [eternity]." Maybe the apocalyptic vision is not in chronological order, which would make it highly dubious to attempt any kind of definitive interpretation as to when the events of Revelation have or will be fulfilled.

Scott Hahn's book, The Lamb's Supper: The Mass as Heaven on Earth talks about Revelation as a description of what is going on in Heaven and that, as he says, "The Mass--and I mean every single Mass--is heaven on earth". An Amazon review says, "The central thrust of this piece is that Catholic liturgy offers the best interpretive paradigm for studying the Book of Revelation." Hahn shows how the Mass reflects what we see of Heaven in Revelation.

Other quotes from Hahn and about the book (which I quickly gathered from the reader's comments on the Amazon page):

"We go to heaven when we go to Mass...This is not merely a symbol, not a metaphor, not a parable, not a figure of speech. It is real."

"When Jesus comes again at the end of time, He will not have a single drop more glory than He has right now upon the altars and in the tabernacles of our churches," Hahn writes. "God dwells among Mankind right now because the Mass is heaven on earth."

Hahn claims that these truths have been held by the Church since the beginning of Christianity

"I want to make clear that the idea behind this book is nothing new, and it's certainly not mine," writes Hahn. "It's as old as the Church, and the Church has never let go of it. ... [Yet] this idea, that the Mass is `heaven on earth,' arrives [today] as news, very good news."
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I can't go into great detail here without simply reproducing the book -- I recommend reading it (it is a fairly short book) for anyone interested in the subject. I think it will be a fascinating read whether one agrees with the premise or not. And it is especially useful to any Catholic to read -- even many cradle Catholics will find it new and invigorating.

--Stanley

The Lamb's Supper. I second the recommendation. I've never viewed Revalation the same again. Every time I step into the Mass, I am aware that I have stepped out of time and into Heaven. A pox on Apocolyptists!