When I was 16 – in the days of VCRs, VHS tapes, movie rental stories, and sleepovers at my friends’ houses – one of my friends and I decided to rent a couple of movies one Friday night; and because we were both fairly good Catholic boys who, to our other friends’ surprise, enjoyed going to Catechism (also know then as CCD) after Sunday evening Mass, we rented what appeared to be a Catholic/Christian related movie called “The Seventh Sign”, released the year before (as in 1988!) and featuring Demi Moore and Michael Biehn.
Being that most teenage boys then had a thing for Demi Moore, and Michael Biehn gave a rock star performance as Kyle Reece in the first “Terminator” movie, how could it possibly be a bad movie?
And it turned out not to be such a bad movie. It was a bit on the scary side – yet, as the title suggested, the movie was an interpretation of Revelation: That’s right, the very last book in the Bible, and quite possibly one of the most misinterpreted books in existence.
Even the interpretation applied to “The Seventh Sign” was a bit off the mark, particularly because of its more literal focus on Scripture. Nevertheless, it was a powerful story with an equally powerful reminder about the meaning of sacrifice: that Christ’s sacrifice is a timeless model of replacing our often-self-serving view of life with the real meaning of love: God’s love.
As a quick side bar, I thought –and still think – that Jurgen Prochnow, the actor who played the second coming of Jesus as a human form, is almost exactly how I imagine Jesus would look and act today if He were walking among us again.
Also, as expected, Demi Moore and Michael Biehn gave solid performances – though Biehn’s character was somewhat more in the background than his breakout role as Kyle Reese in “The Terminator”. Still, Biehn knows how to play an intriguing character and with meaningful depth.
“The Seventh Sign” was also a reminder of how awful just about every Revelations type movie has been since then. Yes, include the “Left Behind” movies in the bunch – or, for that matter, any Bible-based movie that pushes a purely literal agenda or is filled with misguided propaganda. Movies that distort Scripture not only do a disservice to it, but they also do a damaging disserve to Christian theology overall. Worse, these kinds of misinterpretations have spawned competing factions – largely throughout Protestant denominations — about what Revelation really means: We now have “pre-tribulation” believers (or “pre-tribbers”), post-tribulation, rapture versus no rapture, the anti-Christ as a being versus the anti-Christ as an institution, pandemic vaccines viewed as “the mark of the beast”, and the fun keeps keep going from there.
Thankfully, there is a book that, verse by verse, does a complete, wonderfully thorough walkthrough of Revelation. And if you are asking, “Who was brave enough to tackle that subject?” His name is Michael Barber: a fellow Catholic, a fellow fan of Scott Hahn’s works, and a super impressive theologian.
Prior to reading Barber’s book on Revelation, called Coming Soon, I had thought I had a rather comfortable understanding of Revelation; that is, it is an excellent example of using the Four Senses to interpret Scripture. Namely, when we connect the literal, allegorical, moral, and analogical dots, Scripture doesn’t have to be so overwhelming.
However, now having read Coming Soon, it turns out that there was a mountain of information In Revelation that I apparently did not know. Most of my missing information can be broken down into two components: *how the book of Revelation itself is structured’; and *that the more we connect with the Sacred Scripture and Sacred Tradition, the more we can understand Revelation.
This reminds me: Have you seen the memes out there that begin with “how old were you when you found out <fill in the blank…>?” For instance, I recently saw a meme containing a Coke can and this question: “How old were you when you found out that the hole in the tab on a Coke can is for drinking with a straw?” And many people commented with this answer: “I was *today* years old!’ (Including me!).
I was also “*today* years old” when I learned that the entire book of Revelation basically mirrors much of the Mass and what it represents. Early on in “Coming Soon”, Barber first explains Revelation as being split into three parts (and which he draws from Scott Hahn’s well-acclaimed book, “The Lamb’s Supper”):
Part 1 – The seven letters, respectively to the seven established churches in the first century, that explain the importance of penance.
Part 2 – A book with seven seals is opened and which reveals seven judgements.
Part 3 – “Seven chalices are poured out, climaxing the marriage supper of the Lamb, where the Church is united to Christ”
Then, Barber compares this to the Mass:
Part 1 – We call for our sins to be forgiven, to live in a state of penance and grace.
Part 2 — We listen to Sacred Scripture, how it spiritually and morally guides our relationship with Christ.
Part 3 – We partake in the Eucharist – the Real Presence of Christ – which is central to the entire Mass and to our belief in Christ, as well as to the Sacred Tradition that the Catholic Church has honored for 2000 years.
So, yes, Revelation is the all-encompassing, climactic Mass: It reminds us of Christ’s sacrifice and resurrection for our eternal salvation and communion with God, and it shows why the Sacraments are so necessary to our walk with Christ.
Now, for those who may be asking, “What about all the talk about the end of the world, God’s giving his final judgements, and that Satan will be destroyed once and for all?” All of those components still have their place in understanding Revelation. However, and as Barber points out – and because Sacred Scripture contains layers (A.K.A. The Four Senses of Scripture) – Revelation has a two-fold message: one warns the first century contemporaries of John that the Temple would be destroyed (which then did happen in 70 AD). The second is how we can apply the first set of prophecies about the Temple’s destruction with prophecy about Christ’s return.
Barber then spends most of the book explaining what both sets of prophecies mean, including a section in each chapter called “How does *this* apply to today”? And this makes reading Revelation more enriching, more relatable to our everyday lives. Therefore, Revelation is certainly not just a book filled with complex symbolism or what sounds like a drug-induced dream. Instead, it is the supreme mirror to the Liturgy of the Mass.
Now, this is where I could create a multi-part video series on all topics discussed in Coming Soon and the book of Revelation in general. Thankfully, though — and as with the other books I have recommended on this channel — someone else has already done quite a bit of the heavy lifting in fleshing out Scripture. That said, I leave you with this: Read the book! It turns that Revelation isn’t as scary and overwhelming as it is frequently depicted. Rather, Revelation applies to every part of our faith journey. And at the center of that is Christ. Just as Christ is the center of Revelation. And hence why Revelation IS the Mass.