A rather prominent Christian pastor was quoted in a popular magazine as saying this about the Jesus we find in Revelation: “In Revelation, Jesus is a pride-fighter with a tattoo down His leg, a sword in His hand and a commitment to make someone bleed. This is a guy I can worship. I cannot worship the hippy, diaper, halo Christ, because I cannot worship a guy I can beat up.” Sadly, his thoughts about the Jesus of Revelation are not entirely unique. Some have used the book of Revelation to depict a violent God, who supports violent acts and who ultimately brings the world to a violent end. When we dig in and read John's Revelation responsibly, however, we find something altogether different.

Special thanks to Dave Johnson, Eugene Peterson, Barbara R. Rossing, Brian Zahnd, NT Wright, Greg Boyd, Michael J. Gorman, Larry Helyer, Ed Cyzewski and Vernard Eller for their contributions to this series. For more about Mosaic, visit us at mosaiclincoln.org.