Revelation – Bold Move
Revelation 1:1-3
1The revelation of Jesus Christ,
which God gave him to show to his servants the things that must soon take
place. He made it known by sending his angel to his servant John,
2who bore witness to the word of
God and to the testimony of Jesus Christ, even to all that he saw.
3Blessed is the one who reads
aloud the words of this prophecy, and blessed are those who hear, and who keep
what is written in it, for the time is near.
The completion of our Romans study yesterday brings us to a new
beginning. After no small amount of prayer I have chosen Revelation. I was
overwhelmed to study Romans in this format and contemplating Revelation here is
much the same feeling. What I found with the Romans study is that taken in
small bites, any book is doable. The same will most likely be true for
Revelation. I was also asked by a dear friend to do the book of Psalms. That’s
not a bad idea – just a big one. So, I’m going to try something different.
Every Friday, we will set aside Revelation to look at a Psalm. That will begin
tomorrow.
Revelation is also a big book and it has a great deal of baggage
attached to it by the current theological culture. So, the first place to start
is to speak briefly about the direction from which I come when reading
Revelation. I will be taking the approach that has been used to read this book
since John wrote it. But before we do that, I suppose that we should address
the ideas that currently run through some denomination of the Church about the
End Times. Since the early 1800’s (1820-1830) a new understanding of the End
Times arose that provided those who embraced it with the rather non-Biblical
doctrines we face today in many Christian quarters. I have provided a link to a
video by Ben Witherington III from Asbury Seminary. He does a great job of
explaining Dispensationalism and how those who believe in a pre-judgment day rapture of the Church
came to that conclusion. The video is only 7 minutes long and well worth the
time.
Suffice it to say for now I am in full agreement with Witherington. Throughout
these blog posts I will be relying heavily upon the brilliant work of Dr. Louis
Brighton, Professor Emeritus at Concordia Theological Seminary in St. Louis,
Missouri. I had the profound privilege of meeting Dr. Brighton back in 2006 as
he generously shared an hour with me. He is a truly remarkable man who walks
with God every single day of his life. I know this because it radiates out of
him with every word and action. As you can see, I’m a fan. His work for the Concordia Commentary Series: Revelation
is for me a definitive exposition of Revelation.
For today, let’s just spend a moment looking at who wrote this book. It
is self-signed by the Apostle John. This is the apostle described as “the one
who Jesus loved”. It is quite likely that John was a fairly young man when he
was called by Jesus Himself to become one of His Disciples. By the time he
writes Revelation, he is very old and the only remaining Apostle. John is in
fact the only one of Jesus 12 Disciples to have died of old age. All of the
rest were martyred. He is for a time exiled to the Island of Patmos off the
coast of Greece where the Lord showed him visions of the Second Coming of
Christ and the end of the world as we know it. John is also responsible for
writing the Gospel of John and 1,2,3 John. Revelation was written between 95
and 98ad. At that time, John was
known as “The father of the Church.” Most of Christendom at the time knew of
John and respected him mightily. His wisdom, love, and witness were legendary.
As with all of the Scriptures we must always keep in mind the truth
that Jesus Christ is at the center of Revelation. If we lose sight of Jesus as
the central focus, we lose sight of the reason Revelation has been given to us
at all. As you read, ponder, and meditate upon these verses always look for
Christ and you will always find the main point. That is what we will attempt to
do throughout these next few weeks (months?) of our Revelation study.
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