In August 1989 (I’m old), Vicki and I went to a stage play at the Woodruff Arts Center’s Studio Theater in Atlanta for our 16th wedding anniversary. We went on a ten-day trip to Hawaii for our 15th anniversary, and I knew I couldn’t afford to top that experience! So we went to a very nice restaurant for dinner and then across Peachtree Street to Woodruff Arts Center for the play.
I had seen an ad in the newspaper for the event. It was titled Revelation, but offered no explanation. It was a one-man play, performed by a local Atlanta actor named Tom Key. We had seen him perform in several contexts, including the stage play adaptation of Clarence Jordan’s Cotton Patch Gospel. We both liked him, so I took a chance and bought tickets.
The Studio Theater was relatively small, seating maybe 250 people. The stage was very simple: a stool, a fake ancient-looking column, and a plant of some sort on the column. Key came out dressed in khakis and a blue button-down shirt, with the sleeves rolled up almost to his elbows.
He stepped out on stage and started speaking – from memory – the words of Revelation. He went through the words powerfully, until 11:14, “The second woe has passed. The third woe is coming very soon.” There was a 15-minute intermission.
When he came back on stage, he picked up right where he left off and marched with intent to the end. I can still remember the rise in blood pressure during the pouring out of the seven bowls of the wrath of God, only to be replaced with the peace of “Behold, the dwelling place of God is among humankind.” (21:3)
As he was finishing, unlike most plays I have attended in Atlanta, no one started getting their stuff to get ready to rush out. We listened to the very end. It seemed like an eternity, but for a few seconds there was no applause. Then a standing ovation. As people left, they seemed to be much quieter than normal. It was almost like the somberness of walking out of a funeral home after a visitation in the South.
I remember thinking, as we walked up the steps to the exits , “I’m so glad I’m a follower of Jesus. He wins.” And, as I told my wife in the car driving home, “If I weren’t a follower of Jesus already, I’d be looking for a preacher to help me figure this all out.”
I didn’t need to know what any symbol in the book meant. I just knew – perhaps in a more powerful way than ever – that Jesus wins. For me, that was a “light-bulb moment,” and it occurred to me that apocalyptic language is more dramatic than I had realized. It needs to be experienced as much as, if not more than, interpreted (in a technical way).
I don’t know the demographics of the crowd that night. The parking lot was not filled with 15-passenger church vans, so I’m guessing it wasn’t particularly full of church-going folks. If the lines at the bar before and during intermission were an indicator, it wasn’t an evangelical crowd – since at that time, we certainly didn’t drink alcohol in public – and the lines were long!
But the audience was stunned. And I think, despite Key’s impressive performance, there was more to the stunning than that. I don’t mean to dismiss his performance; it’s one thing to memorize “normal Scripture,” and a whole different playing field to memorize apocalyptic language. He never missed a word!
But as impressive as that is – John’s apocalyptic words were amazing, even though no one argued about nor explained the binding of Satan for a thousand years.
It all makes me wonder what could happen if we learned to read and understand Scripture as it was intended.
Wye Huxford 