Thursday, January 19, 2012

Back for more of Revelation.  Today we dug into Revelation 1:9-20.  In this passage John describes his encounter with Jesus.  I broke John's vision of Jesus down into 3 groups here (all relate to Jesus):  His voice, His appearance, His action.  Here is what we discover:

His voice:  v. 10 - like a trumpet, v.11 - gives John instruction to write, v.12 - speaking directly to John, v.15 - voice sounds like rushing waters, v.16 - like a two-edged sword

His appearance:  v.13 - like a son of man, long robe, golden sash around chest, v.14 - white hair, eyes like blazing fire, v.15 - feet like bronze growing in a furnace, v.16 - holds 7 stars, words/mouth like a sword, face like the sun shining in full strength

His action:  v.10 - speaks to John, v.17 - touches John and tells him to not be afraid, v.19 - tells John to write down what he is about to hear

There is great news and what a revealing of God's Son!  Wow!  Could you imagine encountering Jesus in this way?  John's response is, "I fell at his feet as though dead."  Would you do that?  Jesus tells John to not be afraid.  This section reminds me of something I read on how to correclty read Revelation.  One of the main points was that the central image of Revelation is Jesus.  This book is a revealing of Jesus.  In other words, don't get caught up in trying to figure out what events are next or when exactly it is Jesus is going to come back.  Get caught up in Jesus.  Look at what John writes about Him and worship Him.  Praise Him.  Let this book give you a new vision of Jesus. 

Praise the LORD for this new vision of Jesus. 

Thursday, January 05, 2012


Revelation 1 again this morning with a good friend.  We read aloud the greeting and doxology section (1:4-8).  Some good stuff here about Jesus’ identity and our identity and purpose.  We are moving very slowly through this book.  I read somewhere that the best way to read Revelation is slowly and with a lot of prayer.  How do you read it? 
In the following verses (4-8) Jesus is described as:

·         Him who is, who was, and who is to come

·         The faithful witness

·         Firstborn from the dead

·         Ruler of the kings of the earth

·         Him who loves us

·         Him who has freed us from our sins by his blood

·         Alpha and Omega

·         The Almighty

Man, look at this list describing Jesus and His identity!  Great stuff!  What a vision John had of Jesus. 

Our identity and purpose

·         Freed from sin by His blood

·         Made us to be a kingdom and priests 

Look at this list of what He has done for us and what He has given us to do!  We have freedom from sin and we have purpose (to be a part of the kingdom and to be priests).  Questions I'm thinking about?    

What does it mean to be a part of His kingdom? 

What does it mean to be priests?