Tuesday, August 10, 2010
Why Revelation?
Believe me, it was a question I asked, too. Why would we study the Book of Revelation in Forum? The reasons to skip this study are numerous:- It's a bizarre book, full of images that confuse and terrify us. Winged creatures? Giant locusts? Colored horses? Let's be honest: that's just weird.So . . . why Revelation?
- It's a misused book. Centuries of over-exuberant evangelists have used this book to scare us. They tell us about the end of time, pointing to devastation in our world and appropriating images from John's dream to add color and terror to their message.
- It has been a dismissed book. Confused and disturbed, many folks simply decide to skip it. For a lot of us, the Bible might as well have 65 books instead of 66. We've chosen to ignore that the last book even exists . . . and we're not alone. As there have been centuries of preachers who have exploited Revelation there have been just as many theologians who have dismissed it.
Honestly, the first, and most honest answer is because Wendel wanted to study it. I had put him off for a lot of years and now I've finally relented.
But the second - and better - answer is coming from the study itself. We're learning some wonderful things from this book, and I think the most important lesson that has come out is summed up in these quotes from our commentary:
Those who have "conquered" did not escape the great ordeal; they came through it.What does that mean?
and
The path to the kingdom of God goes through, not around, the woes of history.
It means that God never promised that we would not be persecuted or that we would never see difficult times. But we who remain faithful will endure because we will come through our persecution, by the grace of God.
We will not escape the pain of life; we will come through it.
That's not a bad lesson to learn.
Tracy
P.S. There are six more weeks of our study, and plenty more to learn. We meet at 9:30 on Sundays . . . why don't you join us?
# posted by thankyoudarlin @ 12:45 PM 
