Revelling in Revelations

The Dokime Academy class New Testament Survey, in which we read, discussed, and were tested on every book in the latter part of the Bible, is finished as of today. Today, the students took the final test on the book of Revelations. 

I am ashamed to say that our discussion of Revelations was the first time I had studied it carefully, and what an amazing book I found it to be! The fantastic imagery, the science-fiction plot, and the dripping symbolism were zapped into sharp relief by the fact that everything in that book is going to happen.

So, as a science-fiction fan, I admit that Revelations is the best science-fiction work of all time, and the only true one. I had to fight, while I was reading the book, the urge to conceive of every development as a plot twist in some Passion of the Christ-like epic--which I planned, in my arrogance, on developing. However, the story is a scriptwriter's nightmare and, well, there's a rather large and devoted fan base out there who might take issue with me if I made a sub-par movie out of it. And any movie, made by fallen human hands, would be sub-par, even based on such literally divine material. I can imagine the headlines "MASSIVE BUDGET OVERRUNS AS BRATRUD TRIES TO ADAPT REVELATIONS." It sounds almost as probable as "MAN SUFFERS REPETITIVE STRESS INJURY WHILE DRAINING OCEAN WITH THIMBLE." 

All in all, I think I'll leave the book alone. I'd never get studio backing, and it just wouldn't work as an Indie flick. Plus, what would be the point? We will all experience this story. We will all live it out. Because it is the conclusion, the massive summer blockbuster conclusion, to a sixty-six book series with billions of ardent fans through the centuries. A series that tells a story that defines everything about who we are, where we live, and where we're going.