Revelation is pure, but words are translation
Orson Scott Card
I read of the "golden vials full of odours, which are the prayers of saints" (5:8), and I thought: Wouldn't it be much more convenient if all the images in this book could come with a nice little explanation like that?
And then it dawned on me: Maybe the explanation was given only where the meaning would not already be plain to those John was speaking to.
Isn't it strange that in speaking of the most difficult and obscure books in the scriptures, the Lord or his prophets call them "plain" and "clear" (1 Nephi 13, 2 Nephi 25)?
In that moment, as when you look at an optical illusion and it suddenly reverses, I saw chapters 5 and 6 of Revelation in a new way that seemed to me plain and yet precious.
What if Revelation is not just a depiction of the end of the world? What if it is a revelation of the whole course of "this heaven and this earth" (Moses 2:1)?
John saw in the right hand of the Father a book, sealed with seven seals, and the question was asked, "Who is worthy to open the book, and to loose the seals?" ("Whom shall I send?" (Abraham 3:27))
The Lamb opens the book, seal by seal, and with each we get an image:
A ruler on a white horse, conquering.
The red horse, ridden by a man with a sword to take peace from the earth.
The black horse of money and commerce, which brings wealth to some and poverty to many.
The pale horse of death by sword, famine, disease, predation.
The souls of those slain for their faith in God, crying out for vengeance.
The quaking earth, the sun gone dark, the moon red as blood.
How are any of these events possibly tied to the end of the world, seeing as how all of human history is marked with death, famine, disease, martyrdoms, earthquakes and other natural disasters, commerce through which some prosper at the expense of others, and men who seek war and conquest?
How could we possibly tell the difference?
But the Lamb who opens this book is the Word by whom the world was made, and so the book is the whole course of mortal life, unfolding from the beginning. Mortality means war, conquest, injustice, famine, plague, earthquake and storm, and the martyrdom of the faithful for their testimony.
Recent comments
Orson Scott Card is brilliant, wise, and an amazing writer. He is...
Park City Faithful | Feb. 14, 2008 at 10:15 a.m.
the church not only wants but needs to keep their people so close...
becca | Feb. 12, 2008 at 2:54 p.m.
Rev.6:12-17 is quite poetic, filled with symbolism. Other scriptures...
Broken Bow | Feb. 10, 2008 at 12:21 a.m.
