Ramping Up To (Some) Revelation
This coming Sunday we will begin a seven week study through chapters 2 and 3 of the book of Revelation – a series entitled “Letters to the Church”. In this series we will look at seven messages God sent to the churches in Asia Minor somewhere around AD96-100, seeking to understand their relevance then, now and into the future.
Although our concentration will be on chapters 2 and 3, I think there are some helpful observations to be made of chapter 1 before we begin. Today I’ll share some introductory thoughts on Revelation 1:1-3
v. 1-3 In this introduction, John identifies the source of this book’s content, specifies the path by which the message came to him, and stresses the importance of it to believers.
There has been much debate over the meaning of the word ‘soon’ in verse 1. It becomes confusing to us when we consider other time references in Scripture like ‘in the last days’ and ‘the last hours’. The questions become: Did these things take place in the past? Are they still yet future? Did some of them happen in the past and are some of them yet future? Just where do we find ourselves in the timeline? Herein lays the problem in interpreting much of Revelation.
Question: How would the original hearers in these seven churches have understood John? They would have understood him to mean that these things were on their horizon, and indeed, they did experience a tremendous upturn in persecution. This, then, would give me some of my basis for understanding Revelation – as having been given to the church militant to reassure and encourage them. As we get into the next section tomorrow, the very names and descriptive terms used of Jesus all lend strength, I think, to my understanding. More on this tomorrow.
One last thought: Note the phrase ‘take to heart what is written’ in verse 3. So often I think that people approach Revelation in an esoteric sense. John wrote that believers could take to heart what was written – that it would make a difference in their lives.
Although our concentration will be on chapters 2 and 3, I think there are some helpful observations to be made of chapter 1 before we begin. Today I’ll share some introductory thoughts on Revelation 1:1-3
v. 1-3 In this introduction, John identifies the source of this book’s content, specifies the path by which the message came to him, and stresses the importance of it to believers.
There has been much debate over the meaning of the word ‘soon’ in verse 1. It becomes confusing to us when we consider other time references in Scripture like ‘in the last days’ and ‘the last hours’. The questions become: Did these things take place in the past? Are they still yet future? Did some of them happen in the past and are some of them yet future? Just where do we find ourselves in the timeline? Herein lays the problem in interpreting much of Revelation.
Question: How would the original hearers in these seven churches have understood John? They would have understood him to mean that these things were on their horizon, and indeed, they did experience a tremendous upturn in persecution. This, then, would give me some of my basis for understanding Revelation – as having been given to the church militant to reassure and encourage them. As we get into the next section tomorrow, the very names and descriptive terms used of Jesus all lend strength, I think, to my understanding. More on this tomorrow.
One last thought: Note the phrase ‘take to heart what is written’ in verse 3. So often I think that people approach Revelation in an esoteric sense. John wrote that believers could take to heart what was written – that it would make a difference in their lives.
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