A REVIEW OF
HARALD KLEEMANN : ESSAYING THE APOCALYPSE
Published on Amazon Kindle and now also in Paperback
A mystery for 2000 years, the Apocalypse of St John, the biblical Book of Revelation, has a vexed history among the documentary springs and currents of Christendom. For centuries this singular text at the close of the Bible has been variously derided, deplored, lamented and dismissed. It has been probed and prodded by a veritable army of exegetes, yet without anything having been produced either profound or disposed to engender consensus among Christian readers. To this day a majority of Christians are prepared, for lack of any better option, to ignore this book, consigning it to the margins of anonymity and conjecture.
The situation is at the very least extraordinary insofar as a canonical text – an integral part of what is deemed the inspired Word of God – presents a total mystery – this book which is properly called the Revelation of Jesus Christ, the only book in the Bible purportedly dictated by Jesus himself. Can we countenance how odd this is – this radical estrangement from so vital a portion of our sacred scripture – vital, at least, by any consideration of its own interior testimony?
Now, for the first time in the history of Christendom, a coherent, compelling and spiritually meaningful account is presented to the public which does justice to this biblical text, while being consistent with Christian experience, with the relevant history, as with biblical scripture as a whole. Whereas past interpretations amounted to little more than conjecture, whereas exegetes were prepared to dismiss as meaningless this singular text, and whereas it seemed a book of mayhem and catastrophe, a visionary nightmare best left alone – our exposition entirely reverses this negative estimation. At last the Book of Revelation may assume its proper place – not merely as an integral part of scripture, but as the veritable key to the whole of biblical scripture.
The prophecy is understood for what it is – neither narrowly historic in emphasis nor entirely eschatological / futuristic – but of profound spiritual significance to the Christian faith and experience in every age. Nevertheless, the Revelation could not have been understood in ages past, pending the quickening of a prophetic age – an age of disclosure and apocalyptic ferment – which is to say, our own present age. Insofar as it is spoken of sevens seals with which the book is sealed, textual scholarship does not suffice. A comprehensive revelation of the Spirit is required to elucidate the mysteries. As affirms the Revelation itself, it is the Christ of God who opens the seals, the only one found worthy to apprehend this book. As such its unveiling and reception are neither incidental nor gratuitous, but signify a pivotal stage of prophetic fulfilment. As the Revelation of Jesus Christ, it comprises the biblical essence and summation – what we may call the capstone prophetic revelation to the church in an age of spiritual consummation.
In Essaying The Apocalypse we embark on a spiritual journey through the visionary worlds as encountered by the disciple John in his exile on the isle of Patmos. Explained is the entire symbolism as we accompany the seer through an illimitable prophetic landscape, and in his concourse with the revealing Angel of God. Along the way we expose the aeonic deception whereby the church fell from its spiritual calling – and of God’s provision in countering the satanic subversion. We learn the secret the ages as we see beneath the seals of God’s redemptive mystery. And we are spirited into the inmost heavens, coming face to face with the transcendent ark and its cherubic guardians – beyond space and time, beyond the redemptive cycles of the ages, beyond resurrection at the end of the world, in the eternal presence of God.
At profound depths of conceptual integration the Revelation is perceived to reflect the divine opus – of creation, fall and redemption, and new creation – illuminating not merely our text in question, but the Bible as a whole. A grand unified synthesis thus emerges, combining the witness alike of history, of scripture, as of the Christian experience, which threefold resonance bears transcendent testimony of its divine provenance. Essential biblical doctrines addressed include the nature of God, divine creation, prophecy and inspired scripture, divine atonement and eternal salvation, foreknowledge and predestination, the nature of spiritual revelation and the ministry of the Holy Spirit. Added are theological / philosophical reflections concerning the greater Judaeo-Christian prophetic legacy, and the eternal purpose in the mind of God.
Apocalypse means revelation – disclosure, and the unveiling – and what is revealed is Christ, the Word of God, in his creative and redemptive eminence. In the language of biblical symbolism, we move beyond the spiritual veil – beyond the outer courts of historic Christendom – into the sanctum of the spiritual temple, which is the human soul. Spiritual categories – the symbols, types and archetypes – are rendered lucid in the universal language of prophecy – the language of embodied human experience. No longer we need wonder at the symbolism – scriptural guessing is at and end – the spiritual veil of the ages is lifted and Christ stands revealed before our eyes.
Book Information:
Author: Harald Kleemann
Title: Essaying The Apocalypse – A Spiritual Reading Of The Apocalypse Of St John, Also Called The Book Of Revelation
Published by Amazon – see above link on this page.