The resources God has given us to live a thriving life are His Word, Spirit, and People.
Read God’s Word:
Revelation 1-5
Act 3: God’s New Covenant People
Scene 4: Christ’s Church: God’s People Advance the Kingdom
Background Information: Revelation 1-5
The book of Revelation is a real letter, written to real churches in real historical circumstances. It was written by John, exiled on a small Island off the coast of modern-day Turkey. It was never meant to be some strange code to crack, but it was written to challenge and encourage believers to remain faithful no matter what their life setting. The application stretches across time and space and applies to every believer in every situation until the Lord returns. A revelation means unveiling. It was a type of literature that included information given by God through various means that allowed his people to see the present from the larger perspective of his purposes. We are mentally and physically trapped in time and space, so we often fall prey to the perspective that sees random circumstances or evil forces being in charge of history. We must continually turn our minds and hearts to Christ and to eternity, in order to see that God is in charge of both the larger human history and our own personal histories. John’s revelation completes the Scripture by tying it all together. His letter contains more Old Testament references than any other New Testament book. Like the Old Testament prophets, who did more “forth telling” than “fore telling,” so too John spoke to inspire faithfulness in the present by keeping the larger, eternal picture in mind. John uses the number “seven” over fifty times. Seven is a number that represents completion in the Bible. There were seven days of creation, seven pairs of each clean animal on the ark, seven stems on the tabernacle’s lampstand, seven signs and seven “I am’s” in John’s gospel… this list could go on and on. Though seven was often used as a symbol of perfection or completeness, sometimes it is a number that just means seven. There were seven actual churches, and John knew each one well enough to give them specific challenges and encouragements. At the same time, these seven actual churches stand for “the Church” as a whole throughout human history. John expertly ties together history, his own present situation, and the future into a book that points the church to the larger purposes of God. He points us to Jesus, who alone is worthy to open the scroll of human destiny. His worthiness is about not mere power, though he has that…it is about his character. He could conquer with an iron fist, but he chose to conquer through the cross. He bought his people with his own blood. This message was very important for the first readers of this book, who believed the gospel but looked around and saw Roman kings killing their friends and family. They saw people who had no regard for God or truth, living fully for the moment and seemingly prospering while they suffered and sacrificed. What they needed was not some weird book that kept them guessing about contemporary headlines. They needed a clear message of the past, present, and future victory of Christ to inspire daily, confident courage and faithfulness. This is what John’s letter gave them, and it is what it gives us as well.
Pray:
Praise God for…
Thank God for…
Confess your sins to God
Pray that in a time of much uncertainty for Afghans in the US, that they would seek and find real and lasting hope in Jesus Christ.
Ask God for… (what else concerns you?)
Reflect:
Write down one passage of scripture that stood out to you today.
Write down why this passage stood out to you.
Engage Community:
Text or call someone now and tell them…
– What you are praying for.
– What stood out from God’s word today.