I trust all had a Merry Christmas--I know that I did. With that behind us, we truly enter the home stretch of our year-long excursion through the Bible and end with the easy part, the Book of Revelation. Since we only read the first chapter today, I'll begin this six-day mini-course with some explanations.
NAMES FOR CHRIST
As we read through, take the time to keep a piece of paper handy and jot down all the names for Christ that John uses. Even today, we have a few examples:
Him who is, and who was, and who is to come (v4)
Faithful witness (v4)
Firstborn from the dead (v4)
Ruler of the kings of the Earth (v4)
Alpha and the Omega (v8)
The Almighty (v8)
The First and the Last (v17)
The Living One (v18)
This list will grow, and I'll attempt to keep adding to it as we go along. These are names that we're familiar with from various songs and liturgies, and I think you'll be pleasantly surprised just how much of our liturgy is derived from Revelation.
WHAT'S UP WITH THOSE SEVENS?
Even today, we ran across numerous sevens, including one you probably didn't know about unless you read the introduction in a Study Bible. Today's sevens are (and I'll try to keep this running also):
Churches (v4)
Spirits (v4)
Golden lampstands (v12)
Stars (v16)
Different commentators have different interpretations of not only what the seven represents, but what the items are as well, but for today's purposes, we'll use a quote from a Navigators Study Guide I'll use whenever I get around to teaching a Bible class on Revelation:
"The number seven recurs fifty-two times in Revelation. Because of its association with the Sabbath and the seven days of creation, this number signifies completeness, perfection, and the essence of a thing. The universe revolves in a seven-day week; Old Testament sacrifices were done in sevens; seven is the root of the Hebrew word for swearing an oath. So, the seven individual, historical churches of Asia may represent for John the complete church of Asia or the complete Church of all generations that needs to hear this message."
Works for me.
The last seven we ran across today is in 1:3, which states:
Blessed is the one who reads the words of this prophecy, and blessed are those who hear it and take to heart what is written in it, because the time is near.
We've seen writing using this structure before, in the Beatitudes Jesus gave in his Sermon on the Mount found in Matthew 5. Whereas Jesus had 9, John will have seven interspersed throughout the book, and I'll comment as we happen upon them.
If you find the idea of reading Revelation intimidating, don't. John's style of writing in this book is apocalyptic, which is highly vivid and full of lurid and potentially exaggerated imagery, intent on making a point and creating a lasting impression. The one thing you need to know if you don't already is that no matter what is being discussed in the book, from the Mark of the Beast to the rise of the Antichrist or whatever else, EVERY Christian will recognize these things when the time comes. It won't be some grand final exam where we will either pass or fail based on our knowledge--no Christian will be tossed into the lake of fire because they made a mistake. Depending on your point of view, if we're either lucky enough or unlucky enough to live through these days, we'll have plenty to be concerned about, but recognizing evil will NOT be one of them. Through the Holy Spirit, we will be equipped to tell the difference, just as John pointed out in 1 John 4:1-3.
Scott
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