Today we begin looking into a book that many Christians hesitate to read, but don’t let that keep you from the wonderful message of hope and celebration that Revelation contains. This was not written to make believers afraid or confused.
Okay…here we go. Let’s cover a few “rules of thumb” first. Revelation is filled with numbers and phrases that are meant to convey a special meaning. That is, they often mean something more than just a number. For instance, the number seven stands for perfection. If you see “7 eyes” that could mean “perfect sight or all seeing” it could also mean that the being actually has 7 eyes…you simply have to take the phrase in context.
We have one such case in Chapter one. The sevenfold spirit could be the perfect always present Spirit of God or it could mean there are more spirits than we know about. I would say that the “seven churches” would be the church everywhere….except that at the end of the chapter John reveals that Jesus meant 7 literal churches. So there you go….no wonder people get confused. One word of caution, don’t take everything you read literally, because that isn’t going to work either.
One other observation: As I began typing this reflection I realized that it would be pages long everyday if I tried to comment on every thing that was going on. Partly that’s because there is a lot going on, and partly because we don’t know about some parts for sure, and there are 3 or 4 possible explanations. Sooooo… let’s focus on the “Good News” of Revelation as we go through it this time.
Here’s the Good News. John is an apostle, he loves the Lord and he loves the Church. You can hear John’s belief that love is the key attribute in his letters, he even describes himself as the disciple “whom Jesus loved”. So as John writes, you will see and hear love and encouragement. This was not written to make believers afraid or confused. Revelation is both an encouragement and a love letter.
Chapter 1 observations:
* It begins with a blessing for those who read it, or hear it.
* It testifies that Jesus is alive
* Jesus has not only survived death, but he is filled with indescribable power. This is an image of authority and victory
* Jesus promises to return and collect all believers and rescue them from persecution and death
* Jesus affirms that He is watching over the Church, and is present with the Church
Let these images soak into your thoughts and become part of your reality. After all, that’s why it was written.
Soaking,
PR