Scholar: With Revelation, don't be too certain - or too skeptical

By Joe Winter

Is China gaining so much influence that it could be the evil empire of which the Book of Revelation seems to speak?

Or even is the World Wide Web really the anti-Christ in disguise?

These and other questions were addressed by a noted scripture scholar at St. Patrick's Catholic Church on Monday night, who said that while some things may seem outlandish, at least some plausibility can be connected with many of them because of what's in the Bible.

"It is dangerous to be either too certain, or too skeptical (regarding Revelation)," said the Rev. John Echert, a Catholic professor from the Twin Cities. "I actually hope it happens in my lifetime. We might as well get it over with and be with Christ."

The year 2000 as the millennium is actually off by a few years because the monk who made the calendar wasn't too good at math - Christ actually was born around 4 B.C. "But maybe God will accommodate our mistake," Echert suggested.

However, there is Biblical reason to think the world, as we know it, could end at the end of a millennium, Echert said. Relevation says the dragon, or Satan, is thrown down an abyss and chained there by Christ, possibly in His three-day descent into hell following crucifixion. The rub is that after a period of 1,000 years Satan will run loose on the earth one last time, before being quelled for eternity.

Echert says that Satan's influence on earth has dwindled to mere temptations, and he attributes this to the devil's chaining. "We don't have to worry about going to bed tonight, and Satan appearing and setting our bed on fire," Echert said.

Echert advised that people "not get too hung up on numbers." The 1,000 years of which Revelation speaks could be symbolic of the life of the church, not any specific number, theorized the Catholic theologian Augustine. The number seven, which pops up repeatedly in Revelations, in Hebrew symbolizes perfection, Echert said. He referred to things such as the Seven Seals on a scroll of wisdom and the seven gold lampstands, and the fact that John was writing to the seven churches of Asia when he penned Revelation.

As far as Armageddon, the site of a final battle, it is an actual mountain of debris created by the destruction of many cities that built themselves up and were destroyed, one after another. Many people have traveled to Israel to view the mountain, he said.

"The church does not claim to know how some of these things will play out," or how many generations will pass before the world as we know it ends, Echert said. However, he added that these things will indeed occur - in God's own time.

"If you start seeing massive conversions to Judaism, then I'd pay some attention," Echert said, referring to a Biblical prophecy.

"The (end of the world) should only be disconcerting for people who are clinging too much to this world," and the comfortable life they have here, Echert said.

Echert noted some people believe the number 666 will be represented and borne out in computer bar codes or DNA test results, which some military personnel have fought having to take due to religious reasons. It even has been suggested that the three-digit abbreviation for World Wide Web translates to 666 because of its similarity to those numbers in Hebrew.

An audience member asked if Echert gives any credence to the idea that China has been fingered as the new evil empire, since China persecutes Christians and has spread its influence by controlling both ends of the Panama Canal.

"That could very well be the way it will play out," Echert said. He noted that humankind has the ability to destroy the world, and that Pope John Paul II is rumored to be privy to the "Third Secret of Fatima." If the pope knows, he apparently has decided it isn't crucial enough to share with other Christians, Echert said.

There was another question: Could the number 666 have something to do with the ability to conduct business in ancient, evil Rome? Echert speculated that this could have been, since the number may have been inscribed on a Roman coin.

Many Protestant denominations believe something will occur called "The Rapture," where believers would literally be plucked from the place they happen to be and carried to Heaven, Echert said. This not a formal teaching of the Catholic Church, he added. The basis for a theology of Rapture, he added, probably comes from concerns of a group of early Christians who were certain that Christ would return in their lifetimes. The problem came when some members of the community started growing old and dying, and there had been no Second Coming.

Living members of the community didn't want those who had died to miss out on the Second Coming, so a theology developed where they would rise, be snatched up and join God in the clouds, Echert said.

The basis for The Rapture is not found in Revelation, but in specific passages elsewhere in the Bible that describe "one (person) being taken up and one being left behind," Echert said. He said that Catholic theologians believe they have found a few holes in the theology of The Rapture, namely that Heaven is not a place, but rather a state of being in union with God.

Accompanying all this is the theology of Tribulation, which describes a reign of bliss by Christ of 1,000 years. Depending of the version of this theology, the reign would come either before or after a final conflict with Satan, and before or after a Rapture.

Echert suggested that people of this day, with their relatively comfortable lives by comparison to their predecessors, are living the rapture right now.

"When the end comes, the circumstances and condition of our souls is how we will be judged," Echert said. What is important about Revelation is its reminder to "keep our lives in order" because we never know when the end will come.

Revelation is actually a positive thing, Echert said. "It was not written to frighten Christians. It was God revealing to Christians that they should have confidence, hope and perseverance. They are assuring through Revelation that God has a plan (to conquer evil)."

John probably was prompted to write Revelation because of the barbaric tyranny of Rome in his day, Echert said. One prominent theory is that the number 666 refers to emperors, including Nero, whom the early Christians feared most of all and believed might reappear even after his death. In fact, the reference in Revelation to a head that's fatally injured but won't die, has been attributed to Nero, Echert said.

Revelation uses symbolic imagery to build drama and is filled with "points of contact" that link things with the past. An example is tyranny of Rome and the captivity in Egypt. The timeline in Revelation uses a method scripture scholars call "recapitulation," where history moves forward and then recesses before moving ahead again, much like water in an ocean wave.

Echert is a professor at St. Paul Seminary and the University of St. Thomas. He is a chaplain for the U.S. Air Force Reserve, serves as a scripture expert for the EWTN network's Web page and writes a monthly column in The Catholic Servant.

St. Patrick's Church and its evangelization committee are sponsors of his talk.