From the Foundation of the Cosmos

In a recent conversation I referred to the wondrous message of Revelation 13:8. The other person pulled out a Bible and read it to me. I was aghast. I responded, “That is terrible! What translation is this?”

It was the New Revised Standard Version. The verse in the NRSV reads:

and all the inhabitants of the earth will worship it, everyone whose name has not been written from the foundation of the world in the book of life of the Lamb that was slaughtered.

The full NRSV can be found at Revelation 13:8 (NRSV).

The King James reads much more closely to the Greek:

And all that dwell upon the earth shall worship him, whose names are not written in the book of life of the Lamb slain from the foundation of the world.

It seems that many of the newer so-called translations likewise ignore the Greek and deliberately change what this verse from Holy Scripture teaches. The ESV likewise follows this anti-Christian translation, saying

and all who dwell on earth will worship it, everyone whose name has not been written before the foundation of the world in the book of life of the Lamb who was slain.

For a sampling of a few translations see Revelation 13:8 (multiple translaitons).

Why would translators deliberately change what this text says? It seems clear that they simply do not believe in the Lamb who is slain from the foundation of the cosmos. They do not believe in the Lamb who gave His body and blood to His disciples on the night of His betrayal, before His crucifixion. They do not believe in the Lamb to whom Nicodemus came, of whom John records:

Jesus answered and said unto him, Art thou a master of Israel, and knowest not these things? Verily, verily, I say unto thee, We speak that we do know, and testify that we have seen; and ye receive not our witness. If I have told you earthly things, and ye believe not, how shall ye believe, if I tell you of heavenly things? And no man hath ascended up to heaven, but he that came down from heaven, even the Son of man which is in heaven. (John 3:10-13)

John was writing at a time when it was necessary to silence those who rejected the perfect union of the two natures of Christ. Some denied that Jesus the man was truly the Son of God. They refused to accept that Jesus was the Son of MAN who came from heaven. Notice that in this chastisement of Nicodemus that Jesus did not refer to Himself as the Son of God who came down from heaven, even though a few verses later He does refer to Himself as the Son whom God gave to the world. But here He calls the one who came down from heaven the Son of MAN. It seems that hardly anyone pays any attention to the fact that He not only refers to this Son of Man as having come down from heaven, but simultaneously still being IN heaven!

This is what is rejected by those who deny the efficacious nature of the Sacrament of the Altar and those who deliberately reinterpret Revelation 13:8 rather than translating it for how it stands written. They do not believe in the Jesus who is slain from the foundation of the cosmos, in whom Abraham trusted, and in whom Abraham lives.

When we understand what is taught in Revelation 13:8, our eyes and ears are opened to hear what the Spirit says to the churches. Then we understand St. Paul’s insistence in 1 Corinthians 2 that he judged to know nothing in his preaching and teaching save Jesus Christ and Him crucified. When we follow the dear apostle in expecting this to be the sole message of the Scriptures, the Scriptures begin to open to us, or perhaps we begin to open to the message of the Scriptures, as never before. Then we understand why Jesus is the Alpha and the Omega, the First and the Last, the Beginning and the End.

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