Let's begin with a prayer, shall we?
Lord God, we praise You that You comforted Your people with the promise of a Redeemer. We praise You that in the fullness of time You sent Your Son as the Redeemer. We praise You that You give promise that You will send Him to us again to judge the world in righteousness.
Open our hearts to receive our Redeemer now as He comes to us in Word and Sacrament. Open our eyes in awareness of His rule in our lives by His grace.
Make Advent a blessing to us as we welcome our King in faith and love. We lift up our heads to welcome Him anew. Fill us with gladness as He comes to us. Amen. (Lutheran Book of Prayer)
True confessions: I have tried my best to avoid Revelation for as long as possible on my Christian journey here on earth, overwhelmed by its complexity and my confusion. Please tell me I'm not the only one?!!
There is a link here that does a great job explaining in a nutshell what makes Revelation so unique from the other books and also what it has in common with all the Bible, namely - that at the centre is Jesus and His defeat of sin, death and the devil.
I was forced to get over my avoidance of Revelation when we studied it in Adult Bible Class about 5 years ago or so. Don't get me wrong - it felt like a high level university course at times, but through it I was able to see the comfort that it offered. And I was particularly struck by how necessary it was to be very familiar with the rest of Scripture in order to understand Revelation properly. "Scripture interprets Scripture" and in this book especially it is needed to understand many concepts. "Scripture does not contradict Scripture" is another key point that makes it vital to understanding this book.
I'm not sure what I've gotten myself into for this Advent/Christmas season by tackling this book! And so I go at it with a fervent prayer for wisdom given, an acute awareness of my own limitations and a desire to seek understanding through wise council found in the guidance of our devotion book, The People's Bible, Concordia Self-Study Bible and my pastor (who I happen to be married to).
"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." Revelation 1:3
What are your thoughts of Revelation going into it? Feel free to share what your experience has been.
6 comments:
My thoughts about Revelation going in...
I am excited to study it from beginning to end!
No doubt there will be questions left unasked and unanswered. I think that in order to keep up with the reading schedule I will sometimes need to just move my attention to the current day rather than continuing to try to discuss previous days completely. Maybe I will consult my own pastor sometimes in order to explore things more fully in the coming weeks, and perhaps it will lead to conversations with my pastor that will last into the early weeks of the new year. I welcome that!
Speaking of which, a wise Christian friend once advised me that it is good to let our shepherd(s) know about our Bible study endeavors. God has given them the responsibility to be our spiritual leaders - to care for our spiritual welfare and to guide us. But they can't do that if they don't know what we are doing.
My experience with Revelation has not been extensive. Rachel, I can't say I share your feelings of wanting to avoid Revelation though. I haven't had an opportunity to study the entire book with a group before. I've tried to study it on my own, but there were more questions than answers and I didn't get very far. There have been various opportunities to study small sections of Revelation (I recall, for example, a sermon series focusing on each of the 7 churches). These have taught me some of the basic themes of the book and will help me to interpret what I read in this study.
Thank you, Rachel, for sharing the prayer, the link about why Revelation is a tough nut to crack, and the principles ("Scripture interprets Scripture," and "Scripture does not contradict Scripture"). All excellent.
Thank you also for your honesty about how you feel about tackling Revelation in this book club. Regardless of exactly how it all works out, we can rest in God's promise that we will be blessed as we read it and take to heart what is written in it.
The time is near!
"No doubt there will be questions left unasked and unanswered. I think that in order to keep up with the reading schedule I will sometimes need to just move my attention to the current day rather than continuing to try to discuss previous days completely." - Good point! My husband mentioned too as we were discussing it that sometimes you don't want to get too stuck on any one thing but continue on and often times the meaning comes out. Or not. But yes, this can only be an overview and your idea of exploring things with your pastor apart from this is an excellent idea!
Also, thank you for your suggestion to others in letting their pastors know what they are participating in. This is great advice! I originally started last years online Advent study for the ladies in my own church (with the blessing and consultation of our pastor). As it turned out, it wasn't the original target group that participated, but a variety of women from all over the place! So to go back to your original advise to let your pastor know, I wholeheartedly agree - as does my own pastor husband. In the original post here, I mentioned the resources that I will be using in reference - so you can also let your pastor know if need be.
Thanks again for your thoughts! I'm excited to begin this:)
Rachel
Yes, Rachel. You're NOT the only one who's avoided Revelation; however, my reasons are a bit different. Now that I think about it, "different" is an understatement. My background includes some terrible, false theology (think "rapture" and family who moved to Jerusalem to be there when Christ returns to reign there again in physical presence, etc.) So, yeah--I'm glad to study this with a Biblical, Lutheran perspective and even more thankful for the work of the Holy Spirit through his word to lead us into all truth. It's my prayer for this study...for all of us! Thank you for "hosting"!
My dad's favourite book of the Bible was Revelation. He found it to be extremely comforting ,particularly when he was dying from cancer. He encouraged all of us "avoiders" to read it. I am so thankful that is one time I listened to him! I love the book because the theme throughout is Jesus Wins! The victory has been won! The King, our Advent King, reigns!
"cre8ev" and "KG," I'm excited to hear more from each of you this Advent!
The perspective of someone who, for example, grew up in a family who once subscribed to rapture theology and lived in Jerusalem for a time waiting for the earthly reign of Christ (wow!) but has now come to believe the truth of Scripture more accurately can be really enlightening to someone like me who has been immersed in the Biblical, Lutheran perspective my whole life!
And I am eager to experience the comfort in Revelation that a man dying of cancer found. What a man of faith who, on his death bed, is encouraging others in their study of God's Word!
Thanks so much ladies!
I wish I could reply directly to each of the comments but I can't figure out how to do that in my settings. Oh, well! I'll have to do it this way for now -
So to cre8ev - thanks for sharing your history with Revelation and the challenges from your background that have surely coloured the way you've looked at it in the past. I echo your well said prayer!!
An interesting resource I wanted to mention is a recent podcast from Issues,etc called "Myths about Lutheranism: Lutherans don't have an end times teaching" - http://issuesetc.org/2014/11/14/issues-etc-24-myths-about-lutheranism-lutherans-dont-have-an-end-times-teaching-pr-bryan-wolfmueller-111414/
It's about an hour long, I think, but is an interesting conversation to consider as we continue on with this. It brings up some of the different false teachings and explains some of the history behind it, the damage caused and most important, Biblical clarification! I recommend it.
To KG - what words of wisdom and lasting legacy from your father! Thank you so much for sharing this personal insight passed down to you. I echo the praise to our Advent King who reigns!!
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