The Next Level
A New Commentary on "like" in the book of Revelation
I am the Alpha and the Omega, the Beginning and the End. To the thirsty I will give water without cost from the spring of the water of life. -Revelation 21:6b
I thought I knew what naan was. The perfect complement to an Indian meal, an unleavened flat bread whose impact can be heightened with a wonderful zing of garlic. But when I ordered naan as an appetizer at the Otium, a Los Angeles restaurant, I experienced the next level. This naan had no garlic option - no extra zing was needed. It was soft, puffy, buttery, and flavorful in a way that is difficult to explain. It looked like the naan I was used to eating. But it was something more.
I don’t have the words to describe it to you, and calling it naan doesn’t do it justice. The best I can do is to tell you that it was like naan, only better.
This delightful confusion awaits us on our journey with Jesus.
The word “like” is used more than 50 times in the book of Revelation. The author of this book of the Bible is trying to share his vision of the future. When it comes to describing the destination that awaits us in our journey with Jesus, he doesn’t have the words. The experience was more than anything he had experienced in life. So the best he could do is to compare the future world of humanity to things that he and his reader have experienced.
He hears voices guiding the transition from our present to the future that sound like trumpets, rushing waters, thunder, and the roar of a lion. He experiences the fall of the old way of life with the sun turning black “like a sackcloth made of goat hair.” The deconstruction of dysfunctional institutions looks “something like a huge mountain, all ablaze, being thrown into the sea.” All of these likes prepare for his vision of the new home where we will live with God forever.
…the Holy City, Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from God. It shone with the glory of God, and its brilliance was like that of a very precious jewel, like a jasper, clear as crystal.
-Revelation 15: 10b-11
His descriptions are vivid and beautiful. Yet when we see it for ourselves, it will far outshine anything we have seen or tasted. No additional zing will be necessary.
Yet there are next levels we can experience in our present lives as well. The naan I had been used to eating was good. Many of us are satisfied with the experience of faith we have today. But, just as there was next-level naan waiting for me right in my own hometown of Los Angeles, there are vibrant new levels of faith within our reach in the here and now.
I know a man in Christ who fourteen years ago was caught up to the third heaven. Whether it was in the body or out of the body I do not know – God knows…this man was caught up to paradise and heard inexpressible things, things that no one is permitted to tell.
-Romans 12:2, 3b-4
In the passage above, Paul uses the third person to share his experience of next-level spirituality. Surely such experiences aren’t meant for Paul alone. There are new spiritual experiences available to all of us. We simply need to put ourselves in a position to experience them.
I didn’t expect to experience next-level naan at Otium. It was a surprise. But I had to position myself to find it by going to the restaurant and ordering it. In the same way, Jesus-followers have to put themselves in a position to experience the next level of their spiritual life. Daily prayer, worship, and Bible reading are core practices in this regard. Go deeper with each of these in your own life. But that’s not all. There are many other practices that Christians, over the 2,000 years since Jesus, have also found helpful. If you want to explore these, you can begin with Richard Foster’s book “A Celebration of Discipline.” Look through his descriptions and pick a practice that catches your eye. Try it regularly over a few months while praying that God would take you to the next level that God has in store for you.
The author of Revelation has shown us the beauty that awaits us at the end of our journey with Jesus. Paul has shown us that we don’t have to wait to experience more now. There is an “Otium naan” waiting for each one of us. Let’s go deeper with Jesus and find out what our next level is all about!
The path of the righteous is like the morning sun, shining ever brighter till the full light of day. -Proverbs 4:18