Conversation and Revelation

So as I mentioned in my last blog I've been in conversation with some friends from church over Scripture, the Apocalypse, that is, the last book of the Bible has been the subject of recent conversation.  We started out by learning the ins and outs of the four mainstream theological viewpoints as pertains 'End Times' or what I like the think of rather as the in-breaking of the 'Age to Come' or 'World to Come' (aka Eternal Life) Luke 18v30 , John 17v1-3.  The mainstream viewpoints are Historical Premillennialism, Amillennialism, Dispensational Premillennialism and Postmillenialism. The material was good and I believe the teacher did a good job of presenting the differing viewpoints from an objective stance which was very cool to see.  This was a time of Spiritual awakening for me and I wrestled with all sorts of things as the Lord was doing a work in us.  All said and done though I still find myself in the camp of Inaugurated Escatology, not only because I find it as the most compelling and accurate to the full counsel of God's revelation of Himself and His purposes in Holy Scripture, but because it is, in my opinion, the most faithful to the Spirit of these Writings.  Knowing that He works all things according to the counsel of His purpose as summarized in John 3v16-17, namely to redeem a people for His own possession, who in turn will play a substantive role in the redemption of His world by loving Him and rejoicing in His amazing grace and covenant faithfulness at work in and through us.


We had intended to go through the Revelation line by line after this introduction to established viewpoints, but it was prayerfully decided to ensure a firm foundation in Messiah by beginning rather in the Gospel according to John, before we delve into such a powerful discipleship experience as John's Revelation.  That being said I still have a desire to work through Revelation with the Lord Jesus in 2012.  So, my journey is going to start here on the blog and those who would like to are welcome to join me in the conversation and Revelation.  I will be posting as I have opportunity and would welcome any guest bloggers who would like to add something to the conversation.  I will be using a few resources as I embark on this journey, my Bible, a commentary, a resource to help me with spiritual disciplines and a whole lot of prayer.


May the curtain be drawn up and Heaven revealed...

¹Revelation of Jesus the Messiah!  God gave it to him to show his servants what must soon take place.  He signified it by sending a message through his angel to his servant John, ²who, by reporting all he saw, bore witness to the word of God and to the testimony of Jesus the Messiah.  ³God’s blessing on the one who reads the words of this prophecy, and on those hear them and keep what is written in it.  The time, you see, is near!

⁴John, to the seven churches in Asia: grace to you and peace from He Who Is and Who Was and Who Is to Come, and from the seven spirits that are before his throne, ⁵and from Jesus the Messiah, the faithful witness, the firstborn from the dead, and the ruler of the kings of the earth.  Glory to the one who loved us, and freed us from our sins by his blood, ⁶and made us a kingdom, priests to his God and father-glory and power be to him forever and ever. Amen.

⁷Look! He is coming with the clouds, and every eye shall see him; yes, even those who pierced him.  All the tribes of the earth shall mourn because of him. Yes! Amen.

⁸“I am the Alpha and the Omega,” says the Lord God, Who Is and Who Was and Who Is to Come, the Almighty.

When things are going 'wrong' in our lives we can very quickly get scared and out of sorts.  For the early church it was severe and violent religious, social, economic and political persecution.  That is where apocalyptic literature comes in.  It is designed to look through the horrific circumstances of the day to the endurance and holiness required of us as God's beloved children and upward toward the hope of the renewal of all things.  

The first thing we see in these verses is that Jesus is to be the central figure, everything flowing through him by the Holy Spirit, and ultimately...intimately... from God the father, 'He Who Is and Who Was and Who Is to Come'.  We see that there is order in God's Kingdom, the revelation is given from the father to Jesus the son, who gives it to his angel who gives it to the seer (John in this case) who ultimately and obediently delivers it to the church.  So we have a four-stage revelation as the basic framework of the epistle.

We see that this is going to be a letter or epistle, there are specific letters to specific churches, that by the symbolic number seven represent the complete church throughout history.  The whole revelation is in the form of an epistle though, telling the children of God what he has seen.  This is also prophecy, Jesus is drawing up from the deep well of John's knowledge of Hebrew prophecy from Daniel, Ezekiel, Jeremiah, Isaiah, ect and yet in light of the revelation of Jesus the Messiah, He is painting a fresh picture with images showing up in new and dramatic ways to bring hope and encouragement to the struggling Christian community.

Finally, the Apocalypse serves as Witness / Testimony and this is of paramount importance to the Christian church in every age and certainly today.  As we will learn later it is by the blood of the Lamb and the word of our testimony that we are to overcome the Accuser.  So when God does something in your life...remember it, celebrate it tell of it to whoever will listen and give God the glory He deserves. It's more than God allowing you to pull into that sweet parking spot right near the front doors of the mall though...Witness carries the idea that God is conducting a heavenly law-court and the 'witness' borne by Jesus and ultimately by those who call themselves Christian's is the key that unlocks the final judgment and verdict.  It also carries the sense of the word 'martyr' meaning you are signing up for suffering, even death.

So why would anyone want to bear this cross Jesus calls us to?  Because He has 'made us a kingdom, priests to his God and father' and for the hope...the only reason Christianity makes sense at all...He will come again and set all things right! AMEN